A major rainstorm couldn’t dampen the spirits and excitement of the third annual Lions Stan Baliant Memorial baseball tournament.
The proceeds of the tournament are donated to the Lions Club and tournament coordinator Irene Baliant is hoping a hot and sunny July 27 will balance the first day — July 25 — of the tournament, which was rained out.
“We had to do a lot of adjustments on the games,” said Baliant. Friday’s six cancelled games had to be squeezed into July 26. Rather than all the games held at the Riverside complex some were held at the 59 Avenue and Ponoka Recreation and Culture Complex diamonds.
“Other than that everything went great,” said Baliant.
The tournament also featured a homerun derby, separated by men and women. Thirty-two men and 13 women competed. “That’s more than we’ve ever had for our derby,” said Baliant.
The homerun derby works like a 50/50 draw, with the man and woman who were each able to hit the most balls over the fence winning a portion of the pot. Men had three allowed strikes and women had five.
This year’s tournament featured 18 teams, seven local and 11 from other communities including Peace River, Calgary, Edmonton, Onoway, Wetaskiwin, Clive, Bashaw, Stoney Plain and Red Deer.
Results:
• First A winners, Fubar from Edmonton.
• Second A winners, Fourthliners from Onoway.
• First B winners, Asylum from Ponoka.
• Second B winners, Alkabollics from Ponoka.
• First C winners, Just Swge from Edmonton.
• Second C winners, D & D from Wetaskiwin.