Games of Thursday, August 14, 1947

WESTERN INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
after Thursday's games
              W  L Pct. GB
Bremerton .. 73 53 .579 --
Spokane .... 73 53 .579 --
Salem ...... 68 53 .562 2½
Victoria ... 69 58 .543 4½
Vancouver .. 66 58 .532 6
Tacoma ..... 60 65 .480 12½
Yakima ..... 47 76 .382 28½
Wenatchee .. 43 83 .341 30

Caps Split Pair
VANCOUVER, August 14 — The Spokane Indians took a first game here Thursday, 6-3, but a late rally attempt came up short as the Vancouver Capilanos won the second game in a 3-2 squeaker.
Bob Hall looked in a jam in the ninth inning of the Western International League nightcap, despite a 3-1 lead, as he gave up singles to George Bufflap and Ben Geraghty and a walk to Bill Dunn to load the bases with no one out. But he managed to get out outs before hitting Herb Gorman on the foot to force in a run, then forced pinch-hitter Levi McCormack to fly out to end the game.
Hall struck out 11 in tosssing a five-hitter, though he walked nine, and walked in a run in the fourth.
Bill Brenner smacked a 360-foot homer off Wally Kramer in the in second inning, good for two runs. Len Tran' s double led to another run in the fifth and Buddy Hjelmaa batted in the winning one in the seventh.
The Caps had taken a 2-0 lead in the opening game when Frank Mullens homered in the third inning with Hjelmaa aboard for his 28th homer and 113th and 114th RBIs of the season. Al Phillips smashed a line drive home run in the fourth to tie the game, then the Indians scored three times off starter Ron Bryant in the fifth to go ahead for good.
First game:
Spokane ........... 000 230 1—6 10 0
Vancouver ........ 002 000 1—3 10 0
Werbowski and O'Neill; Bryant, Hedgecock (5) and Stumpf.
Second game:
Spokane .......... 000 100 001—2 6 2
Vancouver ....... 010 010 10x—3 11 0
Kramer and Bufflap; Hall and Stumpf.

Blankenship Hurls Appreciation Win
VICTORIA, August 14 — Joe Blankenship won on his Appreciation Night at Royal Athletic Park tonight, hurling Victoria to a 7-4 victory over the Salem Senators in a Western International League match.
Three of the runs scored off him were home runs with the bases empty bases when he got behind on the count.
Ed Barr hit the first one in the second inning , and Bob Moore followed in the fourth to give Salem a 2-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the inning, Jack Harshman put the A's ahead by poling Wandall Mossor's first pitch to him over the centre field fence, with John Hooper and Vic Mastro, who had singled, ahead of him.
Blankenship tripled then scored on Pat Patterson's sacrfice fly in the fifth to make it 4-2 before Moore hit his second homer in the seventh, followed by Beard's single to tie the game. But Leo Righetti dropped his eighth home run over the fence in the Victoria half to make it 5-4 give the A's the lead for good.
In the eighth, Mastro singled, Harshman walked, and Babe Jensen smashed a line drive to centre field. Barr tried to hurry to make a play at third but overran the ball and two runs counted.
Before the game, Blankenship was presenrted with various gifts, including a large cash donation by fans. The proceedings were enlivened by Hawaiian-born righthander Len Kasparovitch amusing the 3,600 fans with his version of the hula-hula, complete with grass skirt, and lei.
Salem ............ 100 100 200—4 6 1
Victoria ......... 000 310 12x—7 9 2
Mossor and Beard; Blankenship and Mastro.

Yakima .......... 000 200 020— 4 8 0
Tacoma ......... 201 130 21x—10 11 1
Brysch and Contantino; Greenlaw and Kuper.

Wenatchee ......... 100 000 305—9 8 3
Bremerton .......... 010 004 000—5 9 4
Vivalda, Waltho (7), Frost (7), McCollum (9) and Winter; Marshall, Ahearn (9) and Volpi.

Sports Reel…
[Vancouver News-Herald, Aug. 16, 1947]
Watching the first game of Thursday’s double bill at the Stadium drag by, President Bob Abel of the W.I.L. recalled that our Capilanos and Salem played the fastest game he’s ever seen a few years back. “Took one hour and 21 minutes,” Bob said, “and that was for the nine innings.” That first Thursday contest, by the way took one hour and 39 minutes for seven innings.
* * *
Abel, incidentally, goes on record as liking Spokane Indians for the W.I.L. pennant. “You can’t put so many good ball players on one club and not get a winner,” he says. He admits Salem is getting good pitching, and that out Capilanos have come along fast recently, but it’s still the Spokes for the title.