Local slo-pitch team was one win away from Canadian title

by C. Scott Holland

With a stunning 7-1 record overall, Leamington’s LaSala Construction slo-pitch squad finished second at the Canadian National Slo-Pitch tournament held in London, Ontario back in August 1990.

The tournament featured 30 teams from across Canada and the LaSala squad played in the ‘C’ division.

The LaSala team opened the tournament by facing Brasserie Piloup of Quebec and blanking them 3-0. Next up, they faced East London Sports and won 7-4.

The following day, they won both contests to sweep their division. Their bats and pitching combined to give them a 6-1 victory over North East Arm Hotel of Dunville,

Newfoundland. Then they shutout Stampede Pontiac of Calgary 7-0 for a 4-0 record which put them in the elimination round.

The LaSala bats came to life in the elimination opener as they hammered the A’s of Tyndall, Manitoba by a score of 10-3.

The LaSala Construction Slo-Pitch team lost a heartbreaker to Michigan Tavern in an all-Essex County Canadian final back in 1990. Team members were, back row: Rick Baldwin, Tom Tetzlaff, Rick Sudds, John Sebele, Todd Beacom, Steve Branch. Front row: Bill Taylor, Rob Tremblay, Mark Wuerch, Rob Bigley, Ed Surowaniec, Dave Manning, Gary Wuerch and Gary Schultz.

The offensive show continued in the next contest, as they beat Lamp Cabin of Springhill, Nova Scotia 14- 9.

Facing the highly favoured Harlman’s Auto Repair of London, La- Sala’s defence and hitting sent the strong London squad to the sidelines by a 13-6 margin of victory.

Gary Schultz, Dave Manning, Todd Beacom and Rick Baldwin all slugged homers.

That victory also gave LaSala a berth in the finals, which was an all-Essex County affair, featuring Michigan Tavern of Windsor as their opponent.

In the finals, LaSala played well and actually had a lead at one point, but by the end of the game, they were beaten 9-6.

One of LaSala’s heroes was Todd Beacom, who hit four home runs and drove in 12 runs with a .630 batting average on the weekend. Rob Bigley was a star on the mound until being injured in the final game. Bigley also had a .609 batting average and as a team, LaSala hit .448.

The ultimate compliment and thumbs up came courtesy of the umpiring crews who said that the LaSala team was a ‘class act.’