From the local Prince George newspaper, the Citizen Staff, Prince George, British Columbia
Black Bears make strides, lose to Portland in final at Bear Classic
by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff – Prince George, BC
After having both legs cut out from beneath him, Prince George Black Bears pitcher Heinie Shannon couldn’t make it to the rubber for the bottom of the sixth inning. CR/Portland took full advantage of his absence.
Sunday afternoon at Spruce City Stadium, CR/Portland beat the Black Bears 9-5 in the title game of the Bear Country Classic men’s fastball tournament. The Black Bears entered the bottom of the sixth with a 5-3 lead. But, with the injured Shannon watching from the dugout, they surrendered six runs, all by way of the long ball.
First, Marc Santillano ripped a two-run home run to left centre to tie the game 5-5. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, Brian Ree sent a moon shot over the fence in centre field. Both bombs came off Black Bears reliever Norm Linton. Ree hit 5 homeruns during the two day tournament for Portland.
“I hated to put him in,†Black Bears manager Nino Fabbro said of being forced to insert Linton into the game at such a late stage. “The kid has so much talent that you want to expose it as much as possible. He’s not going to be successful all the time against hitters like they’ve got.â€
For Ree, meanwhile, hitting the grand slam could not have been a sweeter moment. In a Saturday 7-5 loss to Prince George — with Linton throwing — Ree hit into a game-ending double play when his team had the bases loaded.
“I got a second opportunity and I wanted to make the most of it,†Ree said. “I put my head down as soon as I hit it because I knew it was gone.â€
Ree also hit a leadoff home run in the first inning of Sunday’s final, a blast that got Portland on the board after Prince George scored three times in the top of the first.
Shannon, picked up by the Black Bears for the tournament, was cruising along until the bottom of the third inning when he took a line drive from Brian Kaneshige off his left shin. The next batter, Kevin Rasmussen, promptly ripped a two-run homer to tie the score 3-3.
Shannon’s rough times continued in the top of the fourth. While batting against Portland chucker Roberto Balher, Shannon was sent to the dirt by a high and tight pitch. He was uninjured, but the same could not be said after an at-bat against Mike Piechnik in the sixth. This time, a foul tip caught Shannon just above the right foot. After fanning on the next pitch, he was done for the day.
Prince George had taken a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Kim Dirks scored the go-ahead run after a Portland fielding error and then Brian Bailey produced an RBI single that scored Doug Cain. For Portland, Mark Bennett started the game on the rubber but didn’t make it out of the second inning. The three Black Bears runs in the first came on four hits.
In the semifinal round, the top-seeded Black Bears escaped with a 5-4 win against the fourth-seeded Grande Prairie Pride. The Bears trailed 4-1 in the top of the sixth inning but got a three-run triple from Eddie Dent to tie the game. Dent then crossed home plate with the winning run after a Darrell Gervais chopper was mishandled by Pride shortstop Mike Mohr.
In the other semi, Portland edged the Vancouver Grey Sox 2-1. WP Piechnik LP Underhill HR Kaneshige (Portland) Newitt (Vancouver)
In Saturday round-robin games, the Black Bears went unbeaten to claim first place. Prince George beat Grande Prairie 11-2 and then used two-run final innings to defeat Portland 7-5 and Vancouver 7-6. Dating back to last season, the win against Vancouver came after 16 consecutive losses to the Grey Sox.
“We’ve become a better team,†Fabbro said of his club’s weekend performance. “We definitely reached a couple goals that we had. One of course was beating Vancouver.â€
The Black Bears, who will host the Canadian men’s fastpitch championship Aug. 27 to Sept. 3, see their next tournament action July 28-30 in Vancouver.
Weekend results from the Bear Country Classic men’s tournament, held Saturday and Sunday at Spruce City Stadium.
Round-robin
P.G. 11 Gr. Prairie 2
Vancouver 3 Portland 2
Vancouver 8 Gr. Prairie 2
P.G. 7 Portland 5
P.G. 7 Vancouver 6
Portland 8 Gr. Prairie 2
Playoffs
Semifinals
P.G. 5 Gr. Prairie 4
Portland 2 Vancouver 1
WP Piechnik
LP Underhill
Final
Portland 9 P.G. 5
WP Piechnik
LP Linton
HR Ree 2 (Portland) Santillano (Portland)
