The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Split decision marks ball classic Central Ontario fastball earned a lot of new-found respect by the time the Midland Athenian Raiders /Midland Jaycees Fastball Tournament wound up in a split decision on the rain- soaked Midland Arena diamond late Sunday night. The Barrie Downtowners of the Barrie and District Fastball League and Orillia's Udell's Sports each took home $650 after their championship game was stopped by rain al about 9:30 p.m. Orillia had been leading the game 1-0 when the umpire first called a 15-minute rain delay, then, when it was apparent there would be no Jet-up, the two teams agreed to split first-and second- place money The remainder of the $1,600 total prize money was bagged by the two semi-finalists -- two clubs which many expected to have a fairly easy ride at the three-day competition, But the Kitchener Big Bill's, who were beaten 1-0 by the Downtowners, and the Toronto Metro Merchants, ousted 1-0 by Udell's, found the going a lot tougher than they might have been counting on. None of the four local teams in the 16-club tournament managed to take a piece of the loot, but a couple of them did throw some scares into the gathering of the selection of top Senior clubs and gain some much-needed self- confidence along the route. Duval's were ousted quickly with an opening 8-2 loss to the Elmvale Sports of the Barrie league and a 6-0 hammering by Collingwood Shannon Realty. The Hillsdale Hustlers of the Simcoe Rural Fastball League didn't fare much better, dropping their opener 8-2 to BDFL entry Barrie Bayfield Furniture and taking to the sidelines after a 7-2 basting by eventual co-champion Udell's. The Elmvale Sports put up a little more fight by keeping it close in a 4-2 slip to the Down- towners, bul the host club, the Raiders, the reigning powerhouse of the Simcoe Rural League, surprised many of the wet witnesses -- and probably themselves, as well -- by two top- rank performances before a disappointing quarter-final slip. The Raiders opened the lournament with a sweet 1-0 victory over Udell's, a_ con- fidence-builder that helped them forget the dismal drizzling weather of Friday night and set them up for a big show the next day. Late Saturday afternoon, after the morning torrents had sub- sided and the program rolled again about 2 p.m., the Raiders continued their roll with a 3-1 decision over Bayfield Furniture. They were finally stopped on Sunday after one faulty inning caused the collapse of an early lead and gave the Barrie Downtowners a ticket to the semi's with a 5-2 decision. "It was one bad inning," said Raiders manager Gib Ormiston Sunday night. 'We had 'em, but we gave them three runs. Maybe the guys were overexcited, bul that's just the breaks of the game. You have to be up for every game in this kind of tournament play, you can't make the mistakes. But the season's still early -- we'll be back, that's for sure."' The Raiders had scored a run in each of the first two innings of the game before being shut down by Barrie hurler Wayne McLennan, who pitched the entire tournament for the eventual co-champions. The most stunning fact about the performance is that the Raiders gave up five runs on only three hits allowed by pitcher Kurt Glover, (from Caswell's Antiques of the Penetanguishene League) who shared the Raiders' tour- nament pitching duties with Harvey Mann. Friday night Elmvale, the Raiders and the Downtowners will clash again in the opening Autos drop 4-2 decision The Midland Autos dropped a 4-2 decision to Hellas in a combined Barrie and District the other goal. Randy Hargrave and John Powell answered for the Autos. ihe referee. The game was both a league matchup, re- scheduled from earlier league members. The Autos, winless in five starts now, will be in action again tonight game. The Raiders will be looking to settle accounts then, bul more important, as Ormiston suggested, the Midland club may now have developed a hunger for the rest of the season's league and tournament meetings that will not be easily satisfied. Fine talk, you might say, but the Raiders are now convinced, based on their weekend output, that they can back up every word. "We proved to ourselves that we're as good as anybody,"' said the Raiders' Dave Sarson, who played Senior ball in the Toronto Beaches league two seasons ago and has, as does his brother Rob, a member of the Toronto Metro Merchants, quite a store of major fastball experience. "T think there may have been a feeling that we weren't quite as good as some of the big city clubs, the top OFL (Ontario Fastball League) cities and towns and the big-name clubs, but this weekend we proved differently. I'd pit Midland against any of them." Sarson, a member of the tournament organizing com- mittee, said fan support was very "very good" considering the wet weather. "I think people were totally impressed with the calibre of ball. The games were excellent -- in fact, all of the teams have said they're interested in coming back next year -- and everybody was more than pleased."' Eight games were shifted to Wyevale's park to speed things up Saturday but the schedule slid and the final didn't get started until close to9 p.m. Sunday night. Amoving target in the season, and the first game for both clubs in this year's Optical Cup, a_ season-long tournament among Midland goaltender Richard Shoesmith and forward Kent Goldsmith were selected Autos' players of the game by at Midland Secondary School against Barrie United (formerly Derk's Railings). Kick- off is slated for 7 p.m. Recreational Soccer League and Optical Cup game Sunday in Barrie. Hellas, a new all- Greek entry in the league, was led by a three-goal performance from Midlander Ken Tsangaris. Another Midlander,' George Diamantakos, _ scored 'Travelling exposition' to visit A 45 foot by eight foot trailer, a "travelling exposilion'"', according to the Canadian Unity Information Office, is scheduled to be in Penetanguishene for five days starting June 29. WANTED GOOD JUNK ...Clean up the attic ... Clear the basement Help your Rotarv Club repeat the Word's Largest Dockside Ga.ajc Sale July 1st, 1982 Donations accepted at Courtesy Ford from June 21 through June 30th 9a.m.to9p.m. (except Fri & Sat. till 6) For pick-up of large items, cal: 549-7428 NO ITEMS RETURNED in CURIOUS SAVAGE Artistic Director AT GEORGIAN COLLEGE Hwy 400 at Duckworth St. INBARRIE Box Office (705) 728-4613 | Capture the spirit of Penetanguishene's Centennial at the second annual "LIBER DA i presented b Historic Naval and Military Establishments SS (1817-1856) End of Church St., Penetanguishene Saturday, June 26th 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Sunday, June 27th, 1:00-5:00 p.m. Featuring eDrama eMusic eCrafts eFood Fair eCannon and Cutlass Drills Y Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation Hon Reuben Baetz Minister Wednesday, June 23, 1982, Page 21