Portale's effort gets top honor

     By Ralph Reuber
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      Veteran slugger Ross Portale led his Skinny Dugans ballclub to the Hall of Fame championship.
      Skinny Dugans defeated a solid Campbell Concrete squad in the finals. Portale was a one-man wrecking crew for Skinny Dugans.
      After going 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats, Portale was on base every single time after that -- 14 straight hits that included six home runs and three doubles -- to earn the unanimous MVP award.
      Tournament director Bob Keck rewarded Portale's effort with a $300 double-wall DeMarini bat.
      Pitcher John Juliano won the Golden Glove award. Juliano came to bat in the bottom of the seventh with one on and his team trailing by a run to Larsens in the semifinals. Juliano smashed his second home run of the game and deflated Larsens.
      Manager Freddy Schaller made all the right moves for Skinny Dugans as his team captured the title for the second year in a row. Other all-tourneys for Skinny Dugans included Chachi Bellagursai, Jay Wieslander, Ira Ross and Bob Keys.
      Campbell all-tourneys went to Nick Furlan, Bert Cochran and Darel Todd. Larsens got outstanding performances from Hondo Berg, Jim Larsen and Troy Fenn.
      Strike Force had an outstanding tourney and finished fourth. Solid efforts were turned in from Bob Kelly, Willie Banks, Chaz Ward, Pat Russum and Glen Johnson.
      In the coed division, Custom Truck took top honors. MVP went to Dave Strader and the Golden Glove went to Lisa Perry. All-tourney honors went to Mike Loosebrock, Liz Haigh, John Salinas, Nikki Turner, Jay Foster, Laurie Pannone, Larry Serna, Marlene Thomas, Curtis Brown and Perry.
      DIAMOND NOTES -- Congratulations to new Hall of Fame inductees Mike Lowe, Tom Raines, Terry Cordova, Woody Woodward, Frank Larson and Don Cooper.
      Hall of Fame directors Keck and Doug Race did an excellent job. A major item was eliminating A players from the C and D tournament. The tourney was a legitimate C-D event.
      Seniors Gary Pro and Dave Barnes went deep at the Hall of Fame tourney.
      Sluggers won the area's first ISA tournament on May 1 at Cheyenne.
      TOURNEY UPDATE -- All local ballclubs in the C, D and E divisions are invited to the Colorado River, Lake Havasu tournament on May 22. It is a four-game guarantee and promises to be outstanding. The tournament is sponsored by Am-Com Sports and about $2000 in awards will be given out.
      Teams interested can call 260-7803.
     
     Ralph Reuber has more than 25 years of experience as a softball player, sponsor, umpire and manager. He is district commissioner for the ASA in Southern Nevada. He can be reached at 260-7803.