| After defeating the Price National White team 9-4 in the regional championship game July 24, the team now moves on to the little world series of WBBA where they are scheduled to play their first game August 6. The team worked hard to attain the championship while at the same time keeping a great sense of humor. Members of the championship team include Dylan Olson, Anthony Kelly, Brandon Dadgari, Lance Deeter, Nelvin Coho, Deeter Dimick, Andrew Jackson, Sean Jackson, Kamren Nielson, James McKendrick, Beau Rich and Doug Smoak. The coaches of the Helper team are Scott Preston, Barry Deeter, and Jim Noyes. |
Members of the Helper WBBA all-star team and their coaches departed Monday for Salt Lake City to participate in the 46th annual Western Boys Baseball Association little world series. The team was allowed to practice on the tournament field prior to competition which begins Tuesday.
The first game of the tournament for Helper is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday evening. In this game, Helper will face the Salt Lake Avenues team on the south field of the baseball complex.
Carbon County will be well represented at the tournament by not only the Helper all-stars, but also by 12 year Spring Glen resident David Spatafore who is the current tournament director.
Spatafore holds the distinction of being the only person to be a member of a WBBA championship team and later the coach of a championship team. In fact, Spatafore was a member of the Helper team that captured the WBBA title in 1967. He was managed the Salt Lake City Central City all-stars in 1989 when the team won the tournament which was played in Helper that year.
The tournament this year is a 12 team affair divided into three, four team pools of play for the first three days of competition. Each team in each pool will play the other teams in their respective pools with the outcomes of the three pools determining the championship bracket which will be played Friday and Saturday.
All 12 teams will play through Saturday with a consolation bracket scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Helper is scheduled to play their second game Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. against Morgan and the team will meet Rigby, Ida. at 1:30 p.m., Thursday.
The tournament attracts fans from across the state and it will take place at the Herman Franks Field located at 1300 South and 700 East in Salt Lake. Competition will begin at noon however, Helper will not play until 4 p.m. opening day.