The Daily Alaska empire., 1944-08-08
PRINCE RUPERT TEN WINNER OF
 S0FTBALL TITLE
AII- Soldier Series Played at Fort RiChardsOn-
 HighIighfs Given

FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska Registering three straight wins after losing the first game, Prince Rupert, mainland champion, won the Alaska softball championship play-off series three games to one to defeat APO 729, holder of the Aleutian crown. The all-soldier world series, best three out of five games, was con- cluded August l, with Prince Rupert rapping out 5-l victory to end the play-off in four games.
 After APO 729's 5 to extra inning victory in the series opener, Prince Rupert won the next three games handily, dominating the play in the field, at the plate and with superior pitching Only in the first attempt to play the fourth game, an ab- breyiated four-inning contest called because of a heavy downpour that sent players and spectators scamper- ing for shelter, did the Aleutian ten show it's first game form. The score when the game was called, was to 2.
 Prince Rupert victories came by scores of 6-1, 40, and 5-1.
 Ace Pitcher
 Cpl. George s. Nigro, Bellevue, O., continuing the winning brand of hurling he demonstrated in the mainland finals, was the winning pitcher in the first and third Prince Rupert victories, holding the op- position to two runs while allowing ten hits. Cpl. Joseph McMillan, Co., lumbia, Ind, pitching his first game in either the tournament or series, hurled shutout victory, limiting the Aleutian ten to three hits. Pfc. Vim cent Balas, Dayton, O., who shared pitching honors with Corporal Nigro during the tournament, was credited with the one Rupert loss, the eight inning 5-4 opening game of the series.
 Ddttlng HOnOfS
 Batting honors for the winning club were shared by Technicians Fifth Grade Arthur Lancaster, Portsmouth, Va, and Robert F. Gill bert, Sandusky, o. Corporal Lan- caster was on base six times with four singles and two walks in nine official trips to the plate for bat ting average of .444 during the series. Corporal Gilbert put together a double and three singles in ten trips to the plate for an even 400
 Pvt. Erwin E. Young, Lodi, Calf, carried the pitching burden for the losers. He was the winning mounds man in the first contest and was credited with the last two losses, aided and abetted by loose infield play by his team mates who marked up 13 errors in the four games. He was touched for 13 hits and the same number of runs in the 9 innings he pitched.
 WOrk at Suck
 Leading StickerS for the losing ten were Sgt. Cecil Carlucci, Bell, who rapped out two doubles and single and drew four free passes in eight official trips to the plate for a mark of .375, and Pfc. Peter Dur ando, Petaluma, Calf, former pro- fessional baseball player for the Houston team in the Texas League, who pounded out a triple, a double and two singles in Il trys at bat for an average of .363.
 AS an added attraction following the first three games, an all-star team picked from the mainland tournament battled a team of all- stars from APO 726, with the former winning all three games by scores of To, 2-1, and 40.
 Outstanding Feature Outstanding feature of the three games was the hurling of Tech nician Fourth Grade Leslie Lees, St. Louis, Mo, who again demon- strated the form that made him the finest hurler of the tournament. In shutting out APO 726 in the first game, Sergeant Lees pitched another of the no-hitters for which he is famous and struck out 19 batters. Tn the third game, he pitched the first three innings without allow ing hit and struck out of the g batters before turning over the mound duties to Sgt John L. Cuntz also of St. Louis, who completed the shutout, Sergeant Cuntz also