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. a Se . eS a wTVeeeeer se -- Ss wv w A e Raiders bogged, Vasey booming The Midland Athenian Raiders, masters of their own destinies, gatherers of the lion's share of the area's best fastball talent, long- time kingpins of the Simcoe Rural Fastball League, must be feeling a little weak-kneed these days. ao The SRFL defending champions and regular- season _ title-holders managed to land an 11- 10 squeaker over the Vasey Twin Lakers last Monday night in Vasey to even their best-of- seven semi-final series at two games each -- hardly the kind of Hustlers couldn't find One Frank Minnings pitched shutout ball to pace Phelpston Hotel to a 1-0 decision over the Hillsdale Hustlers Monday in the first game of their best-of-five Simcoe Rural Fastball League semi-final series Monday night in Phelpston. Greg Wolfendon was the losing pitcher Second game of the series was scheduled for last night in Hillsdale, but results were unavailable at press time. Third game will go Monday night in Phelpston, beginning at 7 p.m. Hillsdale gained a berth in the semi-final after a narrow 4-3 decision in the third game of their best-of-three quarter-final series against the Wyebridge Warriors last Thur- sday night. Mark Ronald was the winning pitcher for the Hustlers in that one, and Paul Rowe, who pitched with an injured toe and allowed only one earned run in the Warriors' gallant effort, took the loss. Phelpston dumped the Vasey Royals in three games of their quarter-final, coming back after dropping the opener, in which Minnings was out with a leg injury. I 5 - numbers they're_ nor- mally used to tossing around. But that's the way it's been going in this series: open warfare, with the Twin Lakers doing the declaring, and all the ups and downs and back and forth action of shifting battle fronts. "It's been pretty exciting," says the Raiders' Dave Sarson. "But there have been a lot of errors, lots of mistakes that neither of these teams are known for. I think the errors have been the major factor." The Twin Lakers won the first and third games of the series and threatened to take a two-game jump which would really have put the pressure on Midland. But. the Raiders managed to hold on, despite twice funbling four-run leads and barely withstanding the Vasey attack in the bottom of the seventh and final inning. They carried a two- run lead into that final half-frame and; with one Vasey run across, two out and two men perched for the kill, pitcher Bruce Guthrie saved the day with a strikeout. Bob Widdes did the pitching for Vasey; yesterday, he expressed confidence that his young club can keep up the pace. "There have been a lot of big hits in this series,' said ~ Widdes. Commodore takes to the courts Alex Haskell (left) of the Commodore Hotel presents a cheque for $500. to Brian Emery, treasurer of the Penetanguishene Tennis Club, for the , sponsorship of tomorrow's' mens' doubles tournament at the -club's Memorial Park courts in Penetanguishene. Most of the top mens' players in the area will be pairing up for tomorrow's event, the' second tournament of the PTC's inaugural year. Sa" oa :: af "The kids are playing really well. I think everybody figured they'd pretty well wipe us four straight, but if we can keep the bats going we'll be able to hang in there and keep it good."' Fourth game of the series was scheduled for last night in Midland but ee Gh THAR SS were unavailable at press time. Fifth game _ is slated for Monday in Vasey, beginning at 8:30 Tnings went from good to worse to near disaster in eight minutes for Midland Indusmin in _ their opening Barrie and District Recreational Soccer League playoff game Wednesday in Barrie, but the club did hang on for a 2-2 draw and a second shot at Barrie Dykstra Electric next week. The other Midland team, the Autos, were eliminated from championship conte- ntion after a 7-0 loss to the regular-season champ Barrie Italian Sportsmen at the pitch next door to the Indusmin game. The Autos will now enter the fray for the league's consolation title next Wednesday when the four losers of the first round meet in the consolation semi- finals. Wolfgang Zingle was selected the Autos' player-of-the-game Wednesday. On the other pitch Indusmin put in a good team effort throughout and, in the words of team spokesman Gord Fleming "we_ thought we had them" with a little more than eight minutes left in the game and a 2-1 lead. But the young Barrie Squad bounced right back, popping one past Dave Downs with eight minutes to go and continuing a_ strong attack as darkness set in the waning minutes of the game. It was: all Indusmin could do to preserve the tie in those final minutes and the biggest play of the game came with only two minutes remaining when Paul Cox leapt almost to the cross bar to head away ahard drive from only a @ Cont'd pg.9 WS RS Garry Forbes * Sports editor * Cuties to meet the Kings \ Hefty Helen here has helped the California Cuties novelty softball club in 103 of 105 exhibition wins over the past two years. And she the, it) will be helping the calamitous Cuties out once again when they roll into Penetanguishene's McGuire Park Aug. 31 for a special encounter against the Penctanguishene Kings Junior C Hockey Club's ball-playing crew. Nick Boudouris, the Kings' new owner, hopes his youthful squad can show the Cuties who wears the pants around here (Special phol J Pontiettes are onaroll The Stoneleigh Pontiettes continued their determined drive to the Georgian Bay Ladies' Softball League championship with a 10- 8 victory over Midland Therrien's Furniture in the second game of their best-of-five set Wed- nesday in Midland. The Pontiettes, regular-season champs, won the first game of the series last 15-9 last Wednesday in Penetanguishene. Third game will go Monday night at McGuire Park in Penetanguishene. - Stoneleigh reached the finals by bumping off Sturgeon Bay in two straight semi-final games while Therrien's eliminated Gignac's Muffler Shop in two straight in the other series. Gignac's moved on to the consolation championship, winning the first game of that best-of-five set 15 Wednesday over Port MeNicoll, The game was called under a mercy rule after five innings The consolation series continued with a second game last night in Port MeNicoll and the third game will go Monday night at McGuire Last beach event Sat. The Midland Volleyball club's final beach volleyball tournament of the summer will zo this Saturday at the Little Lake Park courts. It'll be a mens' and ladies' doubles affair, with a $10 entry fee and prizes for winning duos in separate competitive and recreational-level divisions. Registration will be held Saturday morning at 9:30