Wednesday, August 19, 1992 @ A Win, lose or draw, it’s in The News Jonathan Green 365-7266 IN THE SWIM Best of luck to the members of the Robson River Otters and the Castlegar Aquanauts who will be attending the provincial championships in Abbotsford this weekend. Let's hope your regular season success spills over into the post- season and the local lads and lasses bring home a handful of medals and best-evers. RUSSIAN ROCKETS I'll repeat this for those of you who missed it: The manager of Team Western, an adult hockey team based in Winnipeg, is looking for players to participate in two recreational hockey tours of Europe this winter. One is to Russia, while the other takes in the Alpine regions of Germany, Austria and Italy. For further info, call Don Finkbeiner at 1- 204-831-7029. FOR THE RECORD Okay, let me get this straight — | bought how much Winnipeg Jets stuff on my all-to-brief vacation? Well, for those LocaSSPORTS | Royals among B.C.’s f Wi Area men’s fastball team builds on local second-place finish to capture third spot at provincial championships in Kelowna Jonathan Green SPORTS REPORTER Although they came up a little short, the Valley Royals still did the West. Kootenay proud at the provincial fastball championships in Kelowna over the weekend. Getting some timely pitching and hitting when it was needed, the Royals brought bronze medals home from the Okanagan, and coach Kevin Sutherland thinks one thing prevented his squad from doing even better. “I think it was totally a case of running out of gas,” he said. The Royals got off on the right foot Friday night with a convincing 11-3 win over the Kelowna White Sox. John Rampone picked up the win for the lo- cals while Mark Sherstibitoff led the charge with a pair of home runs. The boys from the Valley continted-their— winning ways Saturday 4 morning, laying an 8-0 licking on Nanaimo ‘1 homer for the winners. Sutherland gave credit for the win to Banjo’s call-up Eli —_——— — Soukeroff, who pitched a one-hit gem for the victory. But neither Soukeroff nor the two other Roy- als pitchers could save the next game, as they coughed up a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning to eventual champion Vancouver Meralomas and dropped a 5-4 extra inning decision. “They all threw the ball well,” Sutherland said of his pitching staff, “but we just came up short in that one.” Relegated to the B side, the Royals would have to do things the hard way if they were to win it all, and they started Sunday off as they did the two previous days. Getting another strong outing from Soukeroff, the Royals beat former Valley Com- bine Greg Stewart’s Fort St. John squad 6-3, ateam that was one of the favorites heading in- to the tournament. Following that, Rampone picked up his sec- ond win of the weekend thanks to Hank Dead- marsh’s bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the 7th for a 7-4 win over the host Kelowna Cana- dians, with Soukeroff picking up the save. With the victory, the Royals were one game away from a berth in the final. But any hopes of reaching that final were dashed soon after by those same Meralomas. Playing their third straight game and in heat hovering above 40 Celsius, the Royals « Kevin Sutherland NY. ¥ Mae \ + 4 : RRA waa ‘Nina’ astball elite NS . . hh . ’ A * = os aM beads . Qu ey tit % News file photo Banjo’s call-up Eli Soukeroff was one of the catalysts in the Valley Royals third-place finish at the provincial fastball championships in Kelowna over the weekend. melted under the hot Okanagan sun to the tune of 14-2. Phil Evdokimoff was the only bright spot for the Royals, belting a two-run homer. Sutherland said the re-match with Vancou- ver was about as far from Saturday's game as you could get. “The Sunday game wasn‘ at all indicative of the competitiveness of the two teams,” he said. “The Sunday game was really an aberration. “It was just one of those games that comes up every once in a while.” Sutherland said the combination of a tired pitching staff, some defensive struggles with the sun and a total lack of bounces for his squad all swayed the game in Vancouver’s fa- vor. “T’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said. “It was one of those games where you had to maintain your sense of humor.” The Meralomas went on to take two from A side champ Ladner in the final to win the whole thing. Although the Valley boys were within strik- ing distance of first or second, Sutherland said he’s quite satisfied with being the third-best men’s fastball team in the province. “I did feel we had a medal winning team,” he said. Sutherland said the Royals have been invit- ed to a 32-team tourney in Oregon next month, but added it looks like they will pass on that and hang up their uniforms for the season, a successful one that also saw them finish as runners-up in the Castlegar Men’s Commercial Fastball League. ’ Need a car loari? We'll make it happen. stn Talia tice te tcarnrae eee are errr ™@ Wednesday, August 19, 1992 SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? News photo by Jonathan Green All eyes were on Hockey West hockey school instructors Kelly Hurd, Claude Vilgrain and Mike Dennis Monday as the three looked to be thinking about what to have their hockey pupils do ‘next. Now in its third year locally, the hockey school has become bigger and better every year. Nelson Savoy sits in first and hopes to stay there as West Kootenay Men's Soccer League action resumes Wi Nelson Heritage, Nakusp and Castlegar Devils close behind in WKMSL standings Jonathan Green SPORTS REPORTER 9 _. The West Kootenay Men’s Soccer League resumes play after a two-month hiatus this weekend, and Nelson Savoy coach Barry Martin likes his clubs’ chances of staying in top spot. When asked if his league leaders will stay in that lofty position, Martin had two words to say. “Oh yeah,” he said Tues- day. . Savoy has been in first place in the WKMSL from al- most Day 1, thanks largely to a record of seven wins and one tie in eight games. And in those eight games, they've scored some 27 goals while only allowing three. Martin said the key to his team’s success this year has been youth. “We've been rebuilding the team with youngsters,” he said. Martin said the majority of Savoy is made up of players in their early 20s who have played together for several years. He said the speed, fitness and enthusiasm the team dis- played at the start of the sea- son has now been bolstered by experience, providing a lethal combination. “It’s beginning to gel really good,” he said. But even more’ trouble- some for opposing teams is the fact that, according to Pensioners kept busy with recent flurry of golf at the local course @ Local senior men get together with’the ladies, shoot for low net and putt Bud Lowther NEWS CONTRIBUTOR On August 4, the pension- ers scrambled with the ladies on five-person teams. We were their guests. Eighty people were present, with fine food and romance in the air. I played with Andy, Tom and the lovelies - Marie and Anne, but we didn’t win. The winning team was comprised of Dave Heibert, Frank Steen- voorden, Art Lewis, Lorna Manzer and Dean Koenig. There were two raffles, which ; were won by John Moran and Joe Killough. On August 6, 51 pensioners vied for low net scores. The winners were Bill Cheveldave, Kare Gjennestad, John Moran, George Arm- strong, Jim Moore, Ralph Clay, Vinie Santurbano and Art Lewis. We had two guests, Mr. Lit- tlefield of California and Terry Olson of Pentictén. Olson and Bob Moffat shared low gross honors, each shooting a 42. On August 13, 54 pension- ers gathered to contest for least putts over nine holes. We welcomed John Contois as a new member. Gerry Wichert won with on- ly 11 putts, followed by Walter a Pe Janicki at 13, Mike Bermel at 14, and Frank Holdsworth, Otto Anderson, Joe Killough, Kare Gjennestad, Andy Popoff, Nick Burak and myself at 15. I am usually a terrible putter. Golf balls went out to Pete Gorkoff and Floyd Bason. Long hitter Mike Kurnoff won low gross honors with a 41, two strokes better than Carl Henne’s 43. On August 20 some of us will be playing in Colville. Things will be looked after up here by Ackney, Anderson and Lamarche. TIP OF THE WEEK Grip it and rip it and hope you can find it. Martin, Savoy’s armor is without a chink. “We don’t have any weak players,” he said, “but we don’t really have any super- stars. “They’re all generally good players.” : Martin said he is looking forward to the second half of the season, but admitted that Savoy’s youth movement has its bad points. He said he will lose sever- al key players to post sec- ondary education away from the West Kootenay, as well as one who will head to Calgary to work as a country and western singer. “We'll be at least four very good players short,” he said. “It could be a little tough for us.” And with the Castlegar Devils, Nakusp and cross- town rival Nelson Heritage all within striking distance of Savoy, Martin knows he won't be finding any sympathy cards in his mailbox anytime soon. . “It’s going to be quite diffi- cult.” AMATEURS First Flight Low Gross: Brian DeBiasio, Nelson, 208; Kent Brown, Colville, 218; Matt Bunn, Spokane, 221; Willie Hicks, Winlaw, 223; Scott Johnston, Trail, 223. Low Net: Greg Witcherman, Spokane, 207; Ron Perrier, Castlegar, 214; Kevin Brett, Gold River, 215; Ron Konkin, Castlegar, 217; Jim Murdoch, Merritt, 217. Second Flight Low Gross: Paul Birukow, Trail, 231; Stu Lowe, Trail, 233; Mickey Johnson, Trail, 235; Brent Simister, Trail, 241; Ray St. Jean, 244, Trail Low Net: Russ Fullerton, Trail, 212; Ray Schmidt, Seattle, 216; Gab Donnicci, Vancouver, 217; Sandy Santori, Trail, 217; Kim Hay, Trail, 219. 1992 ROSSLAND/TRAIL 54 HOLE OPEN , August 14-16 Rossiand/Trail Country Club Third Flight Low Gross: Dave Lockard, Spokane, 241; Bruce Shepard, Balfour, 245; Marc Chernenkoff, 246; Trefor Davies, Trail, 251; Howard Ridge, Nelson, 252. Low Net: Bill Ling, Vancouver, 209; John Wade, Spokane, 209; Ken Fines, Trail, 218; John Palmasson, Victoria, 218; Al Dececco, Trail, 219. PROFESSIONALS Chris Mitchell, Coeur d’Alene, 207; Dean Johnson, Penticton, 208; Dan Dupuis, Trail, 212; Tim Morton, Avondale, 213; Steve Johnston, Castlegar, 216 Todd Taneda, Kelowna, 217; Ron Barker, Ritzville, 218; Todd Tibke, Seattle, 218; Derek Simister, Trail, 223; Lawrence Ramstead, Kamloops, 223; Kim Walker, Chewelah, 224. There's something for everyone! B 365-7266