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ey te PY "wT 57 er ee as ee Phelpston draws even A bout of bitter cold couldn't freeze the arm of Frank Minnings or the bats of his Phelpston Hotel teammates as they romped to an 8-2 thrashing of the Midland Athenian Raiders to even their best-of-seven Simcoe Rural Fastball League championship series at one game _ apiece Monday _ night' --_siin Elmvale. The Raiders won the opening nine-inning matchup 5-4 last Thursday in Midland after a troubling first inning in which the Phelpston crew came up with two runs. That time, Midland hurler Harvey Mann managed to contain the Phelpston bats for most of the remainder of the contest while his teammates mounted a comeback. Monday, though, the Innkeepers didn't let up after their early surge, scoring two runs in the first inning and slapping five onto that total in the third and fourth frames to virtually leave Midland in the fog. Phelpston cracked out nine hits in those first three innings, including triples by Doug Barnes and Ed Valender and a double from Doug Murphy, and picked up five more in the later innings. Midland batters managed a respectable 10 hits off Minnings, including two doubles and a single from Wayne King and a pair of singles from Brent Gordon. Mann and Minnings struck out five batters apiece and each allowed three walks. The pair faced each other in the opener as well, with Mann fanning eight Phelpston batters and Minnings striking oul six. Mann walked three that day but allowed Phelpston only eight singles throughout. Minnings, serving piping-hot smoke throughout, walked only one Raider but was caught for nine hits, including two singles by centre fielder Kim Ormiston, a single and a double by second baseman Terry Spiker and a single and a triple by catcher Guy Ormiston. At the other end of the tunnel, Minnings cranked out two singles and took a walk in four at-bats. Paul Craddock also hit a couple of singles for the Hotel side. The Raiders' snapped a 3-3 deadlock in the fifth inning of last Thursday's encounter when third baseman Gary Preston and designated hitter Ted Preston, each singled and trotted in with a triple off Guy 'Ormiston's triple. *. Phelpston's most 'gallant attempt at a comeback came in the seventh when John Minnings singled to bring in Doug Murphy and narrow the lead to one run, but Mann took control after that and brought the Midland machine home for a landing with barely a hitch. Phelpston's problems in Thursday's game were the same as Midland's in the follow- up: errors; the costly kind, and in bunches. The two squads will be trying to avoid those - headache-inducing difficulties | tomorrow when they meet in the defending champion's Midland Arena pen for the third game. Game time is 8 p.m. A Phelpston batter connects during Monday night's game Personal threats, possible legal action and the promise of continued spiteful quarreling all came to the fore late last week as the "Midland Minor Hockey Association execulive decided to cancel the proposed Major Midget Christmas trip to Norway. There were no winners as a result of the decision, handed down after an 11-2 vote at a special executive meeting last Thursday. None of the parties involved, not the kids and their parents who have worked hard for months to finance the trip, not even the executive which served its death notice, are happy the project was cancelled. But, says MMHA president Bill Jones, Jr., it was an act of necessary evil. "It was felt there weren't a sufficient number of boys to represent Midland Minor Hockey and the country to the extent that it would benefit international relationships between the two countries,' Jones said Monday. "This kind of decision is difficult, but it has been made as fairly as possible." Coach counts 15 Jack Baguley, who has coached-the crew of boys now known as the Midland Legion Midgets for the past three seasons and was assigned the job by last season's executive so the project could get rolling, isn't so sure about the fairness part. . Baguley says there were 12 boys who had their $900 airline commitments in when he met with Jones on Wednesday night, and at that time he explained to the president that there were three other boys who would come up with the money by early October. One of the boys, aS did trainer Gary Magloughlin, had a Canada Savings Bond which would cover their commitment on maturity Oct. 1. According to Baguley's calculations, that totals 15 boys and two adults. But the following day, the MMHA decided to count only the 12 boys with their money already in by the deadline of Sept. 1, and that number, ' said the executive, just wasn't enough. An official of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, which has the power of veto over overseas journeys, was present at the meeting. But the first sanction has to come from the local powers, and they, in con- sideration of town and national hockey image, simply didn't want to take any chances, "It was personal' Baguley maintains, though, that there were no chances to be taken. There would be 15 boys, he said (adding that the OMHA rep told him the provincial organization "'wouldn't say no to 15"), plus two adults and "more than enough money.' The coach says the club fund-raising committee, which includes parents of the team members, has been working since last December drumming up funds from car washes, regular bingo sessions and from private contributors. Not including the air fares, the club has nearly $9,200 on account - - about half from private donation. Baguley says that amount would easily have covered the cost of the trip, "and if I'd known that they weren't going to count the three boys I'd have laid the $2,700 on the table right there at the meeting." What it all boils down to, says Baguley, is not money or numbers or the image of hockey abroad. What it boils down to, says Baguley, is Baguley. "Tf I wasn't the coach, this team would be going," the coach said Monday. '"'Is it personal? Definitely. There's no doubt in my mind about that. I think they figured I'd get mad and resign as coach." Baguley became suspicious, he says, when some of the boys began dropping out of the project. Two of them dropped out early last week, he says, trimming the roster of committed players before the Sept. 1 deadline. He suspects it's all a result of past disciplinary action he's taken against some of the players on the team and friction between himself and members of the executive: "'They're using the boys to get at me," he says. Jones disagrees: "At the start of the meeting, before a vote was taken, we made it perfectly clear there would be no personal feelings involved in any decision that would be reached. I'm satisfied that all the in- formation presented was fair, and that the vote was fair."' Jones says there were only 10 boys committed to the trip when an original Aug. 15 deadline arrived, and the deadline was extended to Sept. 1. He reasons that the executive could only consider the com- mitments at the later deadline and reach a decision from that count. No extension was asked for, and none was discussed. There was, suggests Jones, no-choice. "When we first talked about this thing, though," says Baguley, "they said they'd help us in any possible way they could. I don't think they have. [don't think they've helped in every possible way." Legalities discussed Friday night, the coach met with the disgruntled parents of the players and, on Monday, he told.The Times that he would be contacting a lawyer for a possible meeting with the parents to outline the chances of further action. That's all up in the air, though, and the way things stand now, the issue is dead. What about all the money? Jones says the executive decided "the money deposited for airline tickets will be refunded to the boys and all fund-raising money will be put into a trust for the team until a resolution can be reached as to what to do with it."' Assuming any last-ditch efforts fail, Baguley says the ticket money will be returned to the boys and the private con- tributions will be returned to the con- tributors. The rest, he says, will be | Midgets' Christmas trip to Norway cancelled dispersed by the fund-raising committee -- with some possibly, used to help cover the season fees for the boys that were com- mitted to the trip. He says the boys that pulled out won't be allowed a share in the proceeds by the fund-raising committee. The hardest thing for. Baguley to accept, he says, is the amount of work that's gone into the project -- all for naught. The players spent the.summer working out (and paying their own way) every Tuesday and Thursday in Wasaga Beach, and their parents, Baguley and _ trainer Magloughlin ("especially him," says Baguley, "he gave 300 per cent, nobody worked as hard as that man)-have volun- teered months to the task. '"'Everybody's worked hard," says Baguley. *'And what have we got? Fifteen very disappointed 16-year-olds."' Among the hard workers was team captain Marlon Gieseler, who said Monday that the cancellation came as a shock: '"'I had my heart set on going. I was in Europe once, to Germany, when I was six, and it would have been nice to go and see the different style of hockey and play against the different clubs."' 'What's done is done' "You know," says Baguley, resignedly, "it's just unreal some of the garbage that's going on." He doesn't have to tell Bill Jones about that, though. Jones says he received letters before last week's meetings threatening that, "If you think you've had problems before, you'll have twice as many af- terwards (if the trip is cancelled)," and "'you'll have nothing but problems the rest of the year."' "I'm sorry people cannot accept a decision and live with it," Jones said Monday. '"'I just hope we can settle down . now and play hockey. What's done is done."' Wednesday, September 8, 1982, Page 11