Local Sports

A vintage ride from Eatonia's Dakota Buttar at the Calgary Stampede on Thursday vaulted him into first place in Pool C of the bull riding competition with two rides still left to go.

Going eight seconds on OLS Tubs Big River, Buttar scored an 85.50 to just edge second place finisher Luke Mackey's score of 85.00. The first-place performance also came with a nice $7,750 payout.

Unity is hosting provincial softball this weekend, the first of three provincial ball tournaments taking place in the West Central community this summer.

Eleven teams are in attendance for the U15 'B' North bracket, including three from the region, Kindersley and Macklin joining the host Unity Panthers.

Cochrane’s Tyler Clazie is bound for the national football stage with Team Alberta.

The Cobra receiver is part of Team Alberta’s U18 lineup heading to Antigonish to chase gold in the Football Canada Cup.

Alberta kicks off the tournament on July 14 against Manitoba.

Fellow Cobra Evan Samoleski made the squad as a defensive back but will miss the action due to injury.

Team Alberta took home bronze last year, with three Cobras in the mix.

The Rocky View Rage Jr. B Tier II squad is gearing up for a high-stakes home stand to close out the regular season, and they’re hungry for a statement finish.

They’ll battle the Strathmore Venom on Saturday, then clash with the powerhouse Southern Alberta Chaos--the top team in the Cindy Garant South Divisionon Sunday.

Both games hit the floor at 2 p.m. in Totem One at the SLS Centre.

The Rage have struggled this season after logging their best ever last year.

They're 5-9 heading into the weekend.

THURSDAY, JULY 10TH

American Association Baseball
Sioux Falls Canaries 12 Winnipeg Goldeyes 7

FRIDAY, JULY 11TH

Santa Clara Baseball League
Playoffs - Best of 3
Game 1
Minnedosa at Carberry - 7:00PM
Austin at Neepawa - 7:00 PM

It's going to be a very special experience for a number of Steinbach football people as they get set to head out to Nova Scotia to be a part of U18 Canada Cup.

For a second year, the Deloraine Fair will feature Heavy Events and Jason McDonald couldn't be more thrilled to be back in the Westman area.

"We're very excited," McDonald says with a smile. "This will be our second year in Deloraine, so we're looking forward to going back out there and putting on a good show. We had a decent crowd last year, and all our athletes are pretty pumped to be back there because it was a great time, everyone was so wonderful to us."

It's been a special season for U13 AAA South Central Cubs star Orrin Fehr, who was named Player of the Month earlier this year, hit a career first home run and has loved every minute of life on the diamond.

"My dad got me into it," Fehr says about how he got into the sport. "Like most dads, he played with me since I was really young. Once I could swing a bat and catch a ball, I went to tee ball."

Another successful regular season has ended with the Portage Padres at the top of the Santa Clara Baseball League standings.

The Padres finished the season with an 11-3-1 record (Wins-Losses-Ties), and Manager Andrew Moar notes they didn't catch anyone off-guard with their performance this season.

Five members of the Swift Current 57's have made the WCBL All-Star game.

Catcher Luis Ayala, infielder Wilmer Henriquez, outfielder Silas Hilton, along with pitchers Brody Bornstein and Adam Korte, made the East Division roster for the game on Saturday, July 19th in Okotoks.

Henriquez is tied 2nd in the WCBL this season with 8 home runs. He's hitting .310 with 20 runs scored and 19 RBI.

Ayala has a team-leading .345 average with 2 home runs, 17 runs scored, and 11 RBI. He leads the team in stolen bases with 6.