Legion baseball: Taleff tourney affected again by rain

How you do make it rain in Great Falls?

Just schedule the Tom Taleff Legion baseball tournament.

The annual competition was shortened by Saturday morning’s rainstorm. So what else is new? In the 40-year history of the Taleff, which is always played over the Memorial Day weekend, 28 times the event has been shortened or canceled entirely because of wet conditions.

“You know,” said manager Levi Johnson of the Great Falls Chargers AA, “you can’t control the weather. You take what you have and roll with it.”

Three scheduled AA games were canceled at Centene Stadium, including two featuring the Billings Scarlets. Several contests in the Class A portion of the Taleff were played at Don Olson Field, however, and several more are scheduled for Sunday.

Johnson said the AA Chargers will not play Sunday, but games are slated at Centene. The first is at 9 a.m., between baseball academy clubs from Vauxhall and Edmonton.

The action at Don Olson Field on Saturday morning is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. The Great Falls Chargers A team will likely play about 2:30 in the afternoon.

On Friday night, the tournament began at Centene as Johnson’s Chargers AA dropped a 7-1 decision to the Vauxhall Baseball Academy. Vauxhall scored four in the first against the young Great Falls team, which is 8-13 this season.

“It was a rough first inning, but after that it was a ball game,” Johnson said. “We’ve been having just one bad inning. If we eliminate that we’re ok.”

Jake Lowery pitched a complete game for the Chargers AA, yielding just five earned runs. Dawson Reiman had two hits, including a double, for Great Falls. Matt Garcia singled for the only other Chargers’ hit.

The tournament continues on Monday, with the Chargers AA slated to play at about 11 a.m. at Centene Stadium. Many gift baskets that the Charger Booster Club plans to auction off as a fundraiser will be available for fans.