Shade stays cool to win Devlin tourney

On a sun-soaked day, the Devlin ball diamond was overcome by Shade.
Charlotte Bazylewski and Ron Kellar each had four RBIs as the Fort Frances squad racked up nine runs in each of the first two innings to dump Up North (Devlin) 23-10 in the ‘A’ final of a slo-pitch tournament there Sunday afternoon.
Jack Kellar went the distance on the mound to earn his fourth victory in four games as Shade went through the tourney undefeated.
The champs wasted little time jumping on their hosts—and pitcher Dennis Smith—as Jason Kellar smacked a lead-off triple in the first inning and scored on a throwing error on Lesley Kellar’s grounder that followed for a 1-0 lead.
Jack Kellar, Ron Kellar, Linda Pruys, and Laurie Walsh each came through with RBI singles in the inning before Bazylewski and Willie Pruys both drilled two-run doubles to make it 9-0.
Up North replied in the bottom of the inning when Harry Gibson scored on a Shade throwing miscue and Smith added an RBI single to make it 9-2.
But Jack Kellar bashed another lead-off triple to start the second, and Mike Bazylewski followed with an RBI single right after to put the lead back to eight.
The avalanche of offence continued in the frame as Ron Kellar (two-run double), Charlotte Bazylewski (RBI sacrifice fly), Jason Kellar and Lesley Kellar (RBI singles) upped the advantage to 15-2.
Jack Kellar followed with his second hit of the inning—an RBI double—before Mike Bazylewski’s single drove in two more before Up North could record the third out.
Gibson’s RBI single in the bottom of the fourth made it 18-3. But back came Shade with four more in the top half of the fifth, featuring RBI singles from Ron Kellar, Walsh, Charlotte Bazylewski, and Willie Pruys.
Calvin Caul cranked a two-run homer to bring Up North closer in the bottom of the fifth, but Diana King’s RBI sacrifice grounder in the top of the sixth capped Shade’s scoring onslaught.
Up North scored two in the sixth on Terry Kellar’s RBI double and a fielding error by Shade, before rounding out the scoring with three more in the seventh.
In the ‘B’ final, the Jokers (Devlin) restored hometown pride with a 6-4 win over the Clippers from Fort Frances.
About $2,000 was raised from the tournament, with proceeds going towards construction of the Crossroads community rink in Devlin.