City diamonds hopping today
Senior Islanders have doubleheader, Fiddler tourney underway in Charlottetown
Memorial Field is the place to be today at 2 p.m. as the Charlottetown Gaudet’s Auto Body Islanders entertain the Chatham Ironmen in a doubleheader.
The Islanders (14-7) are the first-place club in the New Brunswick senior league while Chatham (8-11) sits fourth in the five-team loop with just five games between top and bottom. Charlottetown’s Brody McDonald leads all Charlottetown hitters with a .348 average, but he has company in Dillon Doucette and Sean Corcoran, who are among the top 10 and with four homers each.
McDonald is also among the best pitchers with an earnedrun average of 2.12, which is almost as good as ace Jordan Stevenson’s 1.98 mark. Righthanded pitcher Jake Beck has been sharp of late as has Tyson Blue and this depth has the Islanders in first place.
Islanders fans and business supporters are reminded the team’s golf tournament is set for Friday, Aug. 12, at the Avondale golf course.
In other baseball news, the 12th annual Fiddler MacDonald Memorial AAA Mosquito Baseball Tournament opened Friday at City Diamond and Kiwanis Field in Victoria Park with 16 of the best mosquito teams from the region involved.
The Charlottetown Islanders are unbeaten in P.E.I. league play and with a veteran coaching staff, which includes Jack (Poochie) Burke, K.J. White and Mark Arsenault, it will be interesting to see how they stack up with the mainland teams. It should be an interesting tournament. du Toit fired a 67 on Thursday to be the leading Canadian after Day 1 while veteran Mike Weir started with a 78.
Don MacDougall, who helped bring the Blue Jays to Canada, operates Mill River, just a short spin west from Summerside. Golfers who played there recently tell me he has the place in excellent condition and it’s a beauty.
While on the golf topic, did I tell you I had three birdies over 18 holes, including back-to-back on holes four and five at Avondale Monday? I didn’t think you’d believe it. I’m not sure it happened either.
On a more believable note, Peakes veteran golfer Johnny Bradley turned 87 this week and posted an 87 at the tough Avondale course in the company of his longtime Colonel Gray teaching pal Gerard Murnaghan and Dave Bowlan’s dad.
At Belvedere, the Monday afternoon group can never be accused of not having any fun. Ginger Breedon was been consistently hitting the fairways but can’t pick up any coin as his playing partner Boswell Jenkins is in a birdie drought. It’s a similar story with Colin and Fred Younker, as Fred can’t finish. He had the same problem in hockey.
Live harness racing continues tonight at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park with a nine-dash card and a 6 p.m. post time.
Many of the top class horses and the stake horses are in Bible Hill, N.S., tonight for the $7,500 Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Cup, which features DGs Camme, Big Surf, Jeb, OK Galahad, Midnight Play and His Boy Elroy, who is due to show his Ontario form.
The $260,000 Joe Gerrity Invitational at Saratoga goes tonight and Wiggle It Jiggleit (Montrell Teague) has Post 5 and Sunfire Blue Chip (Mark MacDonald) Post 6 in the eight-horse field. It also includes Bit of a Legend N, Doctor Butch, All Bets Off and three others.
The $22,500 Paul Bunyan Invitational went Friday at Bangor, Me., and Marc Campbell had the six hole with Ys Lotus. Horses like Escape the News and Bet You are on the inside, so it’s a lot tougher than he faced here. Petty International Speedway plays host to Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour action Saturday with the Irving Blending & Packaging 150. It’s the second of three tour stops at the River Glade, N.B., raceway and seventh of 12 races across the region this season. About 20 teams from across the Maritimes are expected for the event. Qualifying starts at 6 p.m. The championship points chase has changed after the IWK 250 last weekend at Riverside International. Dylan Blenkhorn of Truro, N.S., is back on top following Farmington, Me., native Cassius Clark’s 24th-place finish last weekend. Clark now sits in second with 17 points. Antigonish, N.S., native Donald Chisholm climbs to third following his home track victory and sits one marker ahead of Craig Slaunwhite of Terence Bay, N.S. Milton Station’s Darren MacKinnon is in sixth and is the top Island driver, while Greg Proude of Springvale in seventh.