July 31, 1969 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 10 (10 of 20 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
July 31, 1969 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
"-00iI"00kie's00SIDELINE SLANTS Babe Ruth All-Stars Lose In Finals
That Jay.ell ConOndrum
Disappointment is inescapable among
the teenage athletes who composed
Shelton's 1969 Junior Legion baseball club
and their adult leaders.
What should have been and what was
came out so far apart.
This was a squad which possessed the
talent to have captured one title and if not
another at least have come much closer to it
than the team did.
This weekend Puyalhtp goes after a berth
in the American Legion state baseball
tournament wearing the 4th District title
Shelton should hold. Shelton dissipated two
glowing opportunities to wrest that district
diadem from Puyallup at Spanaway Park and
Puyallup last weekend went on to trample a
Tacoma team in the district finals.
One game beyond the half-way mark in
the Olympic Connie Mack schedule Sheiton
owned a nifty 7-1 record and sole possession
of first place in the league. At season's end
Shelton sat at 7-5 and in fourth place.
A sudden and inexplicable batting slump
hit the squad right after the 4th of July
tournament at Longview and the team went
23 consecutive innings without a score, had
only one unearned run in a stretch of 30
innings. Just as suddenly as the plate
affliction appeared it disappeared during the
district tournament, and the team hit like its
old self against Lacey and Puyallup, but
base-running boo-boos and fielding boots
handed the titular games to Puyallup.
What accounts for such sudden ups and
downs is a subject which has frustrated and
confimnded experts since Abner Doubleday
thought up the diamond sport. In this
particular instance, a case could be argued
on the platform of creeping exhaustion. Ed
Adams and Joe Campbell worked graveyard
shifts in Simpson mills, and accommodating
sleep with playing schedules wasn't exactly
simple for them, possibly. Neither used this
as an excuse. Most of the other players had
jobs, too, of more amenable hours and
probably no different fundamentally from
the situation on any other ball club. If
creeping exhaustion did contribute to the
problem, how come the batting slump
suddenly disappeared virtually overnight?
Whatever happened, one of the most
promising seasons in many years for Shelton
Jay-ells evaporated within two weeks and
the posture of championship faded like a
prom :on that
old 11 still comforting cliche - wait 'til
next year. With only three key players
departing due to age eligibility -- and two of
them did not have their best seasons - the
outlook for 1970 is as promising as that
preceding this season just concluded.
Perhaps that fatal fall-off will fail to raise its
ugly head a year hence.
SPORTS SPLINTERS --- Truly
remarkable among the myriad statistics of
this Junior Legion ball season is Jim Corey's
record with bat in hand. The slim ! 50-pound
competitor walked up to the plate 82 times
during the 21-game season and struck out
just once. At the same time he drew only
four walks from opposing pitchers for
another highly out-of-proportion batting
ratio. Jim was moved into the clean-up spot
in the batting order late in the season and
popped eight hits in 17 at bats during that
period.
Sideline Slants readers last week no
doubt were slightly baffled putting the 76
years attributed to Frank Tobin with the
picture bearing his name. Sorry about that,
the picture was of Bob Tobey, some 38
years younger than Frank.
Many of the golfers who participated in
last week's 19th Hole Club competition
could argue a strong case against the need
for lugging so many clubs around the course
with them. The special event was one in
which the participants were allowed to play
with any two clubs of their choice, and not a
few found they did just about as well with
the two as with a ftdl bag. Ran Ellis, for
instance, won the event using a 3-iron and a
7-iron with which he concocted a 9-hole
card of 45, which is just about on the button
him a winning net card of 33. Just to see if it
was a fluke, Ran played a second nine and
came up with a 46 using the same two clubs.
tte fotmd putting with his 3-iron as effective
as with his regular putter. He wasn't alone in
this general result.
If 1 had to put money on one Shelton
Junior Legion player making it in pro
baseball it would be on stocky Mike Hagan,
the sophomore right-hander from North
Mason. With two years of high school ball
yet to come, and three more seasons of
Jay-ell eligibility, Mike has a great future in
front of him if he takes care of his arm and
,, IttitU, ' a fortune hani from
,that right shoulder, if things go right in the
next half dozen years.
By CHARLES GAY
The Shelton Babe Ruth
All-Stars lost the district
c ha m pionship last Sunday
afternoon in Port Orchard after
winning their first two games in a
local tournament to send the best
team to the state competition.
On Wednesday of last week,
Sheiton won its first Babe Ruth
All-Star game in history. Clyde
Rains hurled a two-hit shutout for
Shelton's 1-0 squeaker over the
Bremerton Police All-Star team.
Both pitchers in the contest
gave up two hits, struck out 10
batters, gave up seven walks, and
went the entire distance.
Bremerton's pitcher was in no
trouble until the seventh inning,
when Terry Knight got a single.
Knight stole second, and the
pitcher made an error on an
attempted pickoff, sending the
ball into center field and Knight
to third base.
Clyde Rains then hit the other
single off the Bremerton hurler to
score Knight. Shelton held off
Bremerton by putting them down
one-two-three in their half of the
seventh, and the victory was
secured.
On Saturday afternoon, the
local team had a field day off
three Olympia pitchers. Dan
Larimer pitched an almost
flawless one-hitter. That one hit
coupled with an error and walk
scored Olympia's only run and
spoiled Larimer's hopes for a
no-hit shutout, as Shelton won,
8-1.
Mike Nutt hit a home run in
the sixth ining for Shelton.
Larimer put down 14 straight
men in the bali game until he
walked a man in the fifth inning.
He also made five good defensive
plays on hits back to the pitcher.
After two Shelton batters went
down in the first inning, Bob
for his average. His 12-stroke handicap gave Wallace got on on an error by the
Ill I lllllllllllll I IIIIIIIIllllll IIIIIIIIIIIIII I lllllllllllll I IIIIIIIlllllmlllllllllllllllll I lllllllll III IIIllllll II I IIIIIIIIIIIIIll Ill I I I llllllll Ill I I I llllll Ill I IIIIllll Ill Ill I I I IIllllll
Golf Club Calendar
FIRST TEAM officially entered in the first annual Bayshore
Best Ball two-day golf tournament next month came right
out of the sponsoring club. Dick Bostrom (left) and Bob
Coots, shown looking at a Best Bali advertising poster, paid
their entry fee last week. Bob swings lefthanded while Dick
hits in orthodox fashion. The competition will be limited to
68 two.man teams, Invitations to compete have been sent to
26 golf clubs in Western Washington.
IIIIllIImmIIIIIIIIIIIIIltHIIIIIIIIIIImIIIIIImIuIIIIIHIII
MIXED 2-BALL EVENT
RETURNS MANY PRIZES
Twenty-seven couples
participated in the July mixed
2-ball competition at the
Shelton-Bayshore Golf Club last
::, Thursday evening and the potluck
di'nner which followed.
:ii:! Prize winners were:
Closest to pin on No. 3 --' Glen
Sowers with Sue Anderson.
Closest to pin on No. 2 after
2nd shot -- Ed Frodel with Ruth
Houston.
Ladies long drive off No. 4 --
Sue Daniels with Roger Anderson
(for those over 36 handicap), Gert
Batstone with Jack Kimbel (for
under 36).
Men's long drive off No. 9 -
Sonny Lowe with Lila Frodel.
Low Gross - Bill Batstone and
i Nita Kimbel.
Low Net - (first) John Long
and Helen Rice, (second) Bob
Olson and Hazel Durand, (third)
Dick Bostrom and Maxine
EFFICIENCY EXPERTS of the links, you might call them. Gunnarson.
At least Harry Cole, Bean Daniels, Arn Cheney and Darrell * * * , * *
Denniston (left to right) shot holes-in-one recently at the SANFORD-RICE ADVANCE
Shelton-Bayshore golf course, and you just can't be any more IN TEAM CAPTAINS PLAY
efficient than that. The quartet posed around the 3rd green Ron Sanford and Ray Rice
cup, into which all but Denniston hit their aces. Denniston were the last winners in the
got his on the 7th hole. second round and the first in the
third round of the 1969 Team
Captains tournament now in
progress at the Shelton-Bayshore
Golf Club.
Ran and Ray defeated Bill
Batstone and Rocky Hembroff to
complete the second round last
week, then over the weekend
eliminated Mickey Goodwin and
Glen Robertson in the only third
round match played at this
writing. Third round play must be
finished by this Sunday.
• OS¢/$*
: WALKER PLAYING IN
,t ..... NORTHWEST GOLF OPEN
i: Shelton golf pro Ray Walker
shot a 76 at Seattle's lnglewood
course Monday in the opening
round of the 1969 Northwest golf
open, a position about mid-way in
the huge field of 90 pros and 114
amateurs entered in the 72-hole
competition.
In the pro-am preliminary to
the main event, Walker's 71 was
just two strokes off the winner's
69. Three others also shot 71 and
four had 70. Ray was only one
stroke behind the lead at 59 in
L:: • .... the best-baU competition.
Page I0 - Sheiton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, July 31, 1969
first baseman. Terry Knight then
rapped a single. With Doug Long
at the plate, both men advanced
on a passed ball. Long earned a
base on balls to load the bases,
but the next batter struck out to
end the inning.
Larimer put out Olympia
shortly in the first inning. He
struck out the first man, then
made a play himself to first.
Another grounder was caught by
the shortstop and the play was
made for the third out.
Shelton went down easily in.
the second inning and Latimer got
three more Olympia batters in a
row, :i
The first batter in the top of
the third inning for Shelton
struck out, then Dave Nutt was
hit by the pitcher. Bob Wallace
struck out, but Terry Knight got
on when the third baseman made
an error. Long struck out to end
the inning.
Latimer did it to Olympia again
in the third on a flyout, a
pitcher-to-first play, and a
stikeout. In the fourth, Shelton
started the feast.
Mark Johnson was awarded a
bse on balls to start it off. Then
Mike Nutt, pinch-hitting for Jim
Johnson, hit a single to advance
Johnson to second. A sacrifice by
Tim Fredson worked and got
Johnson and Nutt another base
towards home.
Latimer helped his own cause
when he got a single to score the
two men on base. Elmer Herrel
walked, as did Dave Nutt, to load
the bases. Bob Wallace stepped up
to the plate and hit a triple to
right field. He raced around the
bags as the right fielder had
trouble with the key hit, and the
three players on the bases before
him scored.
Wallace was left on third when
the inning ended. Knight struck
out and Mike Johnson, another
pinch-hitter, went out to third
base.
Larimer had five big runs to
work with when he started the
fourth inning and put out three
men in a row. He added a stikeout
by whiffing the third batter of the
inning.
Mark Johnson started off the
fifth inning for Shelton with a
walk. A fly to the first baseman
kept him on first on the next
play. Fredson got him to second
on a single and Larimer again
singled to score Johnson. Herrel
flew to left field for out number
two and then Nutt singled to load
the bases.
Wallace had the bases loaded
once again, but this time he
popped to second to end the
inning.
Latimer had the first two men
out in the fifth inning to stretch
his string to 14 in a row, but that
was all. He lost batter number 15
on a walk. The next batter was on
when the second baseman made
an error.
The only hit of the ball game
for Olympia, a single, came just in
time to score their run. Two men
were left on ;he bases for
Olympia when the next batter
went out on a shortstop to first
play.
Olympia had the first two
Shelton battent out before some
more trouble allowed Shelton to
score two more runs. Mark
Johnson was hit by the pitcher
and Mike Nutt scored him with a
300 foot homer over the right
field fence, As a result of this
homer and Wallace's triple,
Shelton's only two left-handed
batters accounted for five of the
eight runs. Fredson went out on a
hit back to the pitcher for the last
out.
Larimer put down the next six
Olympia batters in order in the
last two innings, and m the
seventh, Shelton did the same.
One of the interesting statistics
in this game is that Mark Johnson
was officially O-for-I at the plate,
but he scored three runs, more
than any other Shelton player.
This is accounted for by the fact
that he struck out his first time at
bat, then was walked his second
and third times at the plate, and
hit by the pitcher his fourth trip.
Free rides do not count as official
trips to the plate, but they played
a key role in this game. He was
sent home twice by Dan Larimer,
and once by Mike Nutt's homer.
BOX SCORE AB R H RBI E
Herrel 4 I 0 0 0
Nutt, D. 3 I I 0 I
Wallace 3 0 I 3 0
Knight 3 0 1 0 0
Long 2 0 0 0 0
Johnson, Mike I 0 0 0 0
Johnson, Mark I 3 0 0 0
Johnsen I 0 0 0 0
Nutt, M. 3 2 2 2 0
Bourgault I 0 0 0 0
Fredson 2 0 I 0 0
Larimer 4 I 2 2 0
H R-Nutt, M. 3b-Wallace
lb-Nutt, D.,Knight, Nutt. M.,
Fredson, Latimer-2. BB-tlerrel,
Nutt, D., Long, Johnson, Mark-2.
HP-Johnson, Mark; Nutt, D.
Sac.-Fredson.
On Sunday, Shelton could not
score any runs, although they
threatened several times. Clyde
Rains pitched a three hitter in
going all the way, and the North
Kitsap pitcher had a two hit
shutout. The final score was 4-0.
The North pitcher had a good
regular-season record coming into
the game. He had pitched four
no-hitters and five shutouts in
league play. Shelton was the
visiting team again as it had been
for the two previous games.
Sheiton was put down in order
for the first three innings. In the
fourth, a walk was given to Elmer
tterrel, and he was the only one
to survive running the bases
against the North pickoffs. Elmer
had been put out at ftr :with
pickoff in the firs( inning, as had
Terry Knight.
Six batters faced Rains in the
first inning and one of them
scored. Herrel made the long
throw from third for the first out
on the first batter. Then Rains
walked the next man. He hit the
next batter, and on the next play
he made an error.
lie put out the next batter at
first, but it was a squeeze play
that North had planned. With
only one out, the batter bunted
to the pitcher. The man on third
was only a few steps away from
home, and they had no play
there, so Clyde threw to first for
the out. The catcher Mike Nutt
made the next play on an
accidental bunt in front of the
plate. North had gotten a run on
no hits, an error, a walk, and a hit
batsman.
Rains got out the side in the
second inning, but had trouble
again in the third. The first batter
led off with a single. Frying to
pick him off, Rains was called for
balking and the man was awarded
second.
North's next batter was called
out because he stepped on the
plate, and the man on second who
had gone to third in the mixup
had to go back. A fly to center
field was caught by Terry Knight
for out number two. Rains
walked the next batter, but Mike
Nutt's good throw" to third put
out the runner. With two away
and a full count, he was going on
anything, and Nutt rifled the ball
down to Herrel who made the tag.
In the fourth inning, Dave Nutt
caught a pop up for the first out,
then Rains walked another. A
fielder's choice got that man at
second and the fourth batter of
the inning flied to Larimer in
right field.
After Herrel got on in the
fourth inning, Shelton went down
in order, as they did the next
inning. The fifth inning was the
bad one for Rains.
it started with a single by the
first batter. That man got to third
on an error after another single by
the next North batsman. One man
was put out at home on a fielder's
choice play, but an error and a
overthrow on another fielder's
choice allowed the three men on
the bases to come in and score.
Rains made the second out and
struck out the next batter to end
the nightmare.
In the" sixth inning, Shelton
made a hid but was shut off. Bob
Wallace got their first hit by:
beating out a bunt. Rains struck
out, hut Herrel kept it alive with
the only other Shelton hit,
another single. With men on the
second and third stones, the next
two batters went out.
Rains got North Kitsap out in
order in the sixth inning, and
Shelton made their best and final
bid for some runs in the seventh.
Fredson struck out for the first
out, and Knight got on when the
pitcher threw him four straight
balls. Mike Johnson was also
awarded a walk by the pitcher,
but this time the count was full
before the pitcher lost him. Neal
White also had a full count, but
he struck out for out number
two. Bob Wallace was also given
first base by the pitcher to load
the bases for Rains. He struck
out to end the game.
Both Wallace and tterrel were
officially one for one at the plate,
each having walked twice and hit
a single. Terry Knight was the
only other Shelton batter walked
twice.
North Kitsap moved to the
state playoffs at White Center this
week. Yesterday they were to
have played their first game.
On Saturday night, North was
forced to use second and third
string pitchers in their game with
Central Kitsap to see who played
Shelton in the championship the.
next day. They barely survwed
the game, winning it 15-14 in the
bottom of the seventh inning
after Central had come back to go
ahead in the slugfest.
The last Central run which was
the go ahead tally was protested
by a handfuil of North fans
present to see the game, but it
made no difference in the
outcome of the game, as North
scored the two runs they needed
in their half of the seventh and
the game was over.
After North scored three runs
in the first inning to take a lead
for two innings, Central scored
ten runs in the third. Some fans
were wondering if the inning was
ever going to end as they pushed
across ten big ones. To top that,
of course, Central blew their
seven run lead when North scored
seven off Central's bad pitching to,
get them back in the game.
it was the second time this
season that North Kitsap has
spoiled Shelton's All-Star hopes.
A few weeks back, the North
Little League team beat Shelton's
at South Kitsap's field, 5-1.
SEVERAL SHELTON ALL-STARS mob
he had pitched a near perfect one-hitter I
Olympia.
CHUBB NUTT, right, congratulates son M
homer in Saturday's game at South KitsaP.
:7
CLYDE RAINS, left, and Terry Knight,
two hits in the Shelton All-Stars'
Wednesday. The two singles came in
Rains' hit allowing Knight to score
third.
ELMER HERREL takes a cut ata
Olympia All-Star during the two tea
Orchard last Saturday.
MIKE NUTT, running, is greeted
smashing a 300 foot homer in the
Shelton's game with Olympia.