Eighty years ago, on July 16, 1936, 10 hard-fought innings of softball could not decide the issue when the Canary Birds tangled with the Stockton Fraser Furnace team in the main attraction at Recreation Park. With the score standing at 7-all, the game was called to allow the local players time to get to work. Joe Bianchi paced the local hitters, poling a trio of safeties in six attempts.

In other sports stories from

the Bulletin files:

100 years ago: July 21, 1916 – Elmer Blodgett of Manteca won a hard-fought game with the Oakdale team Sunday over the Modesto Merchants.

90 years ago: July 23, 1926 – In a closely-contested game, the Manteca DeMolay baseball team nosed out the Lathrop Tigers by a score of 5-4 on the local high school diamond Sunday afternoon. Eddie Forsell of the DeMolays proved to be the slugging star of the game. He got three hits out of four times at bat. Tom Washington for the DeMolays pitched exceptionally good ball.

40 years ago: July 21, 1976 – For the third time in the last five years, the District 5 Babe Ruth Baseball championship has returned to Manteca. After losing to Lodi-South in eight-innings to Lodi-South in the first game, the local 14-15 all-stars took the championship with a tense 3-1 win just before midnight in Newman. The all-stars of Manager Pete Moreno and assistants Richard Jay and Bill Hardcastle advanced to the State tournament as Randy Ross pitched brilliantly and struck out 11 batters to gain the win.

The Manteca Dolphins, the Manteca Metropolitan Recreation Department’s competitive swim team, has finished the regular season with a Trans-County Conference record of 4-0 and an overall record of 5-0. Saturday was the last meet of the season and the Dolphins easily defeated the team from Gustine 411.5-180.5. Triple winners in the meet included James Breakfield, Shawn Coburn, Pat Schimke, Jill Pinto and Susan Walker.

George Azevedo State Farm Insurance, now heading to the State Babe Ruth 16-18 Tournament in Wasco, finished the local season with a 1-0 decision over Ripon on Sunday. Dale Delmanowski gave up only three hits while striking out 10 to gain his sixth win in as many decisions. Dave Greene put State Farm in front with a towering triple and then scored later on a wild pitch.

The Manteca Babe Ruth 13 year-old All-stars surprised most observers by advancing to the semi-finals before they were eliminated last Friday from District 5 competition in Lodi. They suffered a tough 10-6 loss to Modesto-National. Modesto scored six runs in the first two innings, although Manteca responded with five runs in the second to make it close.

30 years ago: July 20, 1986 – Bakersfield scored seven runs in a big third inning to eliminate Frank’s Exxon 7-2 from the Central California State Babe Ruth 16-18 tournament in Clovis yesterday. Joe Dias had a double in Frank’s four-hit effort. Coach Jack Thomson’s nine finished the season at 17-4.

A 40-yard field goal enabled the North team to defeat the South 3-0 in the annual Lions All-star football game in Stockton before a few thousand fans. Manteca High’s Dan Eavenson played the entire game for the North at center and East Union High’s Rick James had nine tackles at linebacker.

Madison-Post 249, Manteca’s American Legion baseball team, topped previous league-leader Lodi 2-1 Sunday. Lenny Ybarra twirled a five-hitter. Mike Petterson scored on an error and Dan Van Vuren doubled Tom Booz across the plate in a big second inning.

The Manteca Dolphins hosted Hughson Saturday, racking up a 978-553 victory at the Lincoln Park pool facilities. Multiple-event winners included: Johanna Harvey, Suzi Clark, John Lowry, Joseph Long, Crissy Stevens, Josh Greiman, James Harvey and Shane Thomas. 

20 years ago: July 24, 1996 – In Hollister, the Tri-County Babe Ruth 16 year-old all-stars received two solid pitching efforts by Tracy players in beating Modesto 5-3 and San Benito 6-0. For the 16’s, Tom Tuggle had two hits for Tri-County in the first game win over Modesto. In the afternoon contest, Joey Segura and Steve Smalley each had a pair of hits.

The Manteca Babe Ruth 15 year-old All-stars were eliminated from the Central California State Tournament when they gave up five runs in the fourth inning, which spelled trouble in their 5-3 loss to Orcutt in San Luis Obispo. Manteca had held a 3-0 lead going into that inning. Richard Rocha went 2-for-2 in the losing cause.

The road to the Central California State Babe Ruth 16-18 title ended for the Tri-County all-stars when Fresno exploded past the local squad 12-4 Friday afternoon in Porterville. Fresno scored six runs in the sixth inning, four of them on a grand slam home run, to take a commanding 12-2 advantage. Tri-County actually out-hit Fresno by collecting 11 hits, but left 13 base-runners stranded. Manteca’s Joey Sergent doubled and scored in the third inning, while Gary Shirey had a base-hit and an RBI.

10 years ago: July 23, 2006 – Manteca Dolphins standout Nathan O’Leary was a perfect 3-for-3 during the Mid-Valley Swim Championships on Saturday at Pitman High in Turlock. O’Leary (17-18) took firsts in the 100 freestyle (52.49), the 100 IM (1:00.90) and in the 50 free (24.37). CJ Essenwein (6 & under) was a double winner in his division as he won the 25 butterfly (25.98) and the 25 backstroke (27.13). The Dolphins took third in the meet, won by Oakdale.

The Visalia Babe Ruth 15-year olds broke the eight-game win streak of Manteca with a 10-4 victory over the locals in the Central California State Tournament at Zupo Field in Lodi yesterday. Manteca scored all its runs in the third inning. Moises Figueroa, Jordan Clark, Justin Joyner and Teddy Anderson all scored for Manteca.

Fall sports physicals for Sierra High will be held on August 8 and 9, from 3 pm to 6 pm in the school library. The cost of the physical will be $25 and students must bring a parent to the physicals or have a signed permission slip. For more information, contact Greg Leland at the high school.