Tuesday, June 18, 1946

                W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee .... 38 19 .667 —
Salem ........ 36 19 .655 1
Tacoma ....... 29 20 .592 5
Bremerton .... 29 21 .580 5½
Spokane ...... 29 23 .558 6½
Yakima ....... 21 31 .404 14½
Vancouver .... 17 36 .321 19
Victoria ..... 14 44 .241 24½

SPOKANE, June 18—The leading Salem Senators dropped ther second game in 12 encounters to the up-and-coming Spokane Indians, 10-9.
Salem .......... 032 000 004—9 10 5
Spokane ...... 110 071 00x—10 12 4
Gerkin, Miles (5), Soderberg (5) and Salmon; Kinnaman, Hallbourg (9) and Paulson.

TACOMA, June 18—Wenatchee took the opening game of a Western International League series with Tacoma, 4-2, in a game enlivened by a fifth inning light failure which plunged the field into darkness when a transformer blew out.
The 3,500 fans sat in the darkness for 35 minutes while the trouble was fixed.
Wenatchee ...... 001 030 000—4 9 1
Tacoma .......... 100 001 000—2 12 3
Vivalda and E. Fitzgerald; Colombo, Sostre (9) and Kemper.

YAKIMA [Ellensberg Daily Record, June 19—]Tony Chapetta, Roslyn hurler, went to the mound for the Yakima Stars in the Western International League last night, but failed to last as Bremerton knocked over the home club, 11-10. Chapetta, although touched for three runs in the first two innings, held an 8-3 lead until a four-run Bremerton blast in the fifth and was lifted in the seventh when Bremerton scored two runs. The Bluejackets won the game in the eighth with two more runs off Straight [sic].
The defeat spoiled the debut of Yakima's new manager, Harlond Clift, who only yesterday was named to the position, replacing Spencer Harris, who resigned voluntarily.
Bremerton ........ 120 040 220—11 16 3
Yakima ............ 242 001 100—10 13 2
Lowman, Logue (2), Medeghini, (6), Federmeyer (8) and Paglia; Chapetta, Strait (7) and Gibb.

VICTORIA—Frank Cirimele scored when Bill Dunn blooped a hit to right-field to end the game and give the Victoria Athletics a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Capilanos in WIL baseball Tuesday night.
Errors paved the way for two of the Athletics' runs. Jim Hedgecock walked two men in the first then set down all Victoria batters until John Carpenter opened the sixth with a bloop single, with the Athletics trailing 2-0. He was bunted to second by Murphy, moved to third on a fly ball to deep right then came home as shortstop Ray Orteig misplayed Bob Cherry's grounder and threw wildly to first.
Victoria tied the game in the eighth when Pete Murphy tripled to the wall in left field, then Al Steele hit a bouncer to Bonnell, who held the ball to check the runner, then threw it into the left first base bleachers.
Murphy singled to open the ninth, and Cirimele was sent in as a pinch-runner. He was sacrificed to second, then Vic Buccola hit a slow roller between first and the mound that went for a hit. Dunn then popped up, but the ball went off Al Kretchmar's finger tips in right for a game winning single.
- - -
VICTORIA [Clancy Loranger, Vancouver News-Herald, June 19]—You may have heard this before, but Vancouver Capilanos are still losing; Jim Hedgecock is the unluckiest pitcher in the Western International League.
Hedgecock, who allowed just three hits in his last start, but lost, gave up only five, three of them of the scratchy variety, here last night against Victoria Athletics, but he went down again, 3-2.
It was the second straight one-run loss for the Caps here, and stretched their losing string to eight games.
For five innings, Hedgecock didn’t allow a hit, and finally in the sixth, his mates, who had given big John Carpenter trouble in every inning, hit the scoring jackpot. With two out, Art Bonnell walked, and three straight singles by Reg Clarkson, Ray Spurgeon and Hedgecock himself, plus an error by Victoria’s Bill Dunn, sent home two runs.
That pair of counters looked awfully big, even when Carpenter looped a single over first base for the Athletics’ first hit in their half of the sixth. But Joe Jinx, who has been dogging the ex-Marine corporal all season, went to work on Hedgecock.
A sacrifice and a long fly put Carpenter on third and scored as Ray Orteig, playing third, tossed the ball wild to first base.
Another error brought in the tying counter in the eighth. Bob Murphy, who collected the only really solid blow off the Vancouver southpaw all night, tripled to deep left and scored from third when Bonnell threw a ball into the dirt at first.
But Hedgecock’s troubles weren’t over. Pete Hughes opened the ninth for Victoria with a single and was sacrificed to second. Then Vic Buccola, hero of the A’s Monday win, got a piece of a ball that slithered down near the pitcher’s box. It was too far for Hedgecock and not far enough for Al Kretchmar on second. Lou Estes, the only other man who might have got it, slipped and fell.
That put runners on third and first, with Bill Dunn, a weak hitter, at the dish. Dunn lofted one high behind first base. Kretchmar, after a long run, got under it, grabbed it, and then dropped it. It was scored as an error first, and changed to a hit. But it didn’t make much difference then—the ball game was over.
Vancouver ....... 000 002 000—2 9 2
Victoria ........... 000 001 011—3 5 2
Hedgecock and Spurgeon; Carpenter and Clifford.

Athetics Add Hurler, Catcher
[Victoria Colonist, June 19, 1946]
Business Manager Reg Patterson announced last night that the Victoria Athletics have added additional playing strength with the signing of Don Hess and Joe Fontaine, southpaw hurler and catcher, respectively, from Portland. Both joined the club yesterday.
Hess is the property of the Portland Beavers, and was formerly with Salem Senators, while Fontaine is the property of the Victoria club. Both are promising youngsters and are expected to see their first action in the near future.

It Says Here ….
By CLANCY LORANGER
[Vancouver News-Herald, June 19, 1946]
VICTORIA.—There are two sides, some keep observer once discovered, to every question.
Take this series—the all-Canadian cellar championship—between Vancouver Capilanos and Victoria Athletics of the Western International League.
The Capilanos came over here reasonably gleefully, considering their seventh place circumstances, with the idea in mind: We’ve got three games with those lowly A’s. Here’s where we climb into the first division.
TRASHING IDEAS
But the lowly Victoria A’s, it seems, have some ideas of their own, chiefly: At least we’ve got a team we can lick. Here’s where we get out of the basement.
I don’t think it will be the Caps, he said loyally, with fingers crossed. Syd Thomas, the Colonist sports boss, remarked only in Monday’s game, when our boys were floundering a bit, that we had a lousy ball club. I don’t like to pick on a fellow who’s just out of a sick bed, Syd, but I think you’ve got a worse one.
BATTERY’S RUN DOWN
True, the Athletics are a much better team than they were. Ted Norbert, the new manager, undoubtedly knows what he’s [unreadable]ut, and he’s made some changes for the better.
Vic Buccola rates with the best first-baseman in a league that has a large number of [unreadable]y initial sackers. Veteran Pete Hughes still hits the ball hard, Beans Marionetti and Al Steele are experienced infielders, and shortstop Bill Dunn is one of the finest fielding short-patchers, albeit a weak hitter, in the loop.
But the battery—that all important mechanism—is running down. There’s supposed to be some help coming in the catching department, but it’s not here yet and Neil Clifford isn’t what he used to be. He looks uninterested.
The pitching staff is composed of big Bob Jensen, who throws a fast ball, and various cast-offs from other clubs in the Willie League. Tony Ferrara pitched fairly good ball Monday but he weakened at the finish. We can beat him.
FAIREST FANS
I don’t know much about Joe Blankenship, but Pee Wee Bass got the bounce from Spokane, and Andy Adams was with Salem. There’s a new man coming, a lefty named Hess, from Salem, too.
Our old friend John Carpenter hasn’t shown much yet, but he might. He had no spring training, then was worked too hard when he did arrive. Norbert, who played with John at Seattle last year, says the righthander will be a winning pitcher soon.
There’s one thing, though—the fans aren’t expecting the impossible out of Norbert. The players on both clubs say the paying customers in the capital are the fairest in the world, and I can believe it.
Despite the sorry showing of the A’s to date, the faithful still [unreadable]ck to Royal Athletic Park, which now boasts a new, built-[unreadable] grandstand and seats some [unreadable]00, by the way, and cheer loud, long and hopefully. If the club was in the first division, this city would probably lead the setup in attendance.
LOOK OUT FOR BONES
The paying and non-paying relatives in Vancouver could well take a lesson from their Island neighbors. Everytime Buccola stretches for an infield toss—and he really stretches—you’d think that Hughes had homered with the bases loaded and the runners were going around twice. This may be a quite, reserved English-type town, but currently the ball park is neu[remainder of last line unreadable].