| A Kilfoyle team members swings at a Family Dental pitch. |
Twelve Western Base-Ball Association (WBBA) all-star teams from throughout Utah and Idaho will converge upon the fields of the Toy Atwood Baseball Complex in Price Tuesday for the 50th annual World Series of WBBA, Aug. 2-8.
The Carbon league of the local WBBA region is hosting the tournament and plans are complete for an interesting week of baseball and related activities.
The two miniature diamonds at the complex underwent a complete renovation this past spring in anticipation of the event. This the third time in the long history of the WBBA that Carbon County is hosting the tournament, the first held at Helper and the second on the south side field in Price.
Actually, activities for the week will get underway Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. with a social for players, coaches, family members and friends at Washington Park in Price. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, various salad choices and drinks are on the menu.
Gary Pullins, former Brigham Young University baseball coach and athletic director, is scheduled to be the after dinner speaker.
Following this the players will move on to the baseball fields for a home run derby, base running and throwing competition.
A parade on Price’s Main Street Tuesday morning starting at 8:00 a.m. from the Sonic Drive-in will get things started for the opening day of baseball.
Both diamonds at the complex, East and West, will be utilized for the six games on tap each day of the tournament. The teams will be matched in pod play for the first three days, four teams in each pod. Each team will play the other three teams in their respective pod.
| A Family Dental team member slides into home during a game against Kilfoyle in June. All-stars from major league teams comprised the best of the best in game play during regional play that was completed last week. |
With the completion of pod play, the four top teams will move into the semi-finals on Friday and the championship game Saturday afternoon. The remaining eight teams will continue to play each day, Friday and Saturday, in consolation action.
Carbon County will have two teams in the tournament, Helper and Price’s Carbon Blue. These two emerged from local regional play completed last week. Carbon Blue won the regional title the hard way, coming back to defeat Helper in two games after dropping two games to Helper earlier in round robin play and the double elimination format.
These two teams provided youth baseball fans with some exciting games in local regional games. Helper won in the round robin by a close 4-3 score and again in the double elimination by a 13-3 score. Carbon Blue bounced back to win 5-0 in the third game and 5-2 in the fourth game.
Clint Finkbiner, Helper’s strong right-hander, pitched the entire game in the first Helper win. Finkbiner and Julian Tamllos combined in hurling the second game for the winners.
Seth Tryon took the mound for Carbon Blue and helped with a two-hit shut-out for the 5-0 win.
This set the stage for the fourth and final game, a game that produced some excellent fielding gems by players on both teams. Perhaps the most spectacular came when Tamllos reached over the center field fence to rob Carbon Blue’s Brock Pruitt of a home run.
Carbon Blue had strong pitching from a pair of right-handers, Jake Nichols and Mark Swink. The two held Helper scoreless in all but one inning, this being the third frame when Clay Finkbiner connected for a two-run homer.
Tuesday’s opening day of the series will have Helper playing an early afternoon game and Carbon Blue will not play until the final game in late afternoon.