Not quite a no-no
First, a championship celebration. Then, a near no-hitter. It was quite a night at Wrigley Field and in the end it belonged to Ted Lilly — no matter how close Gavin Floyd came to matching him. Lilly took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before pinch-hitter Juan Pierre led off with a single, and the Chicago Cubs held on to beat the White Sox 1-0 Sunday night in a revved-up old ballpark. “There was so much energy,” Lilly said. “I can’t remember that much energy. I guess I’d have to go back to 2001 in the World Series, some of the big game-winning homers, to get that kind of a feeling. It was awesome — really, really special.” On a night when the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks were saluted for their Stanley Cup championship, Lilly and Floyd put on a jaw-dropping display on the mound. “Obviously it was an intense game to the end,” Floyd said. Floyd flirted with a no-hitter of his own for the White Sox before Alfonso Soriano doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Chad Tracy followed with a single, producing the game’s only run. That took care of Floyd’s no-hit bid — but Lilly was still going and the tension began to mount as he inched closer to the first no-hitter at storied Wrigley Field since Milt Pappas blanked San Diego on Sept. 2, 1972.
Athlete of the week
Grady Bowd was a key figure as the Lindsay Thurber Raiders crushed all comers en route to capturing the provincial high school tier 1 senior boy’s rugby championship at Lethbridge during the weekend. The Raiders roared past Sturgeon and Cochrane by respective scores of 41-0 and 25-0 on Friday, then buried St. Francis Xavier of Edmonton 42-14 in Saturday’s final as Bowd scored two tries and added six conversions.
Today
• Senior men’s baseball: Sylvan Lake at Lacombe Stone & Granite, 7 p.m.; Del Rohn at Cheers Pub, North Star Sports at Printing Place, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park 1 and 2.
• Men’s ball hockey: Sports World vs. Original Joe’s, On-side vs. Sharks, 9:30 p.m., Kin City.
Tuesday
• Golf: Alberta Men’s Mid Amateur at Ponoka.
• Men’s ball hockey: HSE vs. Canadiens, Little Caesar’s vs. Original Joe’s, 7 p.m.; On-side vs. Wild Cats, Boston Pizza vs. Rangers, 8:15 p.m.; Blarney Stone vs. Eh Team, East 40th vs. Branley’s; all games at Great Chief Park.
• Women’s fastball: Panthers at Badgers, Stettler at Bandits, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park 1 and 2; Ice at Lacombe, 7 p.m.
• Parkland baseball: Eckville at Rocky Mountain House, Red Deer at Lacombe, 7 p.m.
• Senior men’s baseball: Cheers Pub at Printing Place, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park 2.
• Sunburst baseball: Fort Saskatchewan at Red Deer Riggers, 7:30 p.m., Great Chief Park.
Wednesday
• Golf: Alberta Men’s Mid Amateur at Ponoka.
• Bantam AAA baseball: Foothills Red at Red Deer Servus Credit Union, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park.
• Men’s ball hockey: Wild vs. Raiders, Eh Team vs. Wild Cats, 9:30 p.m. Kin City.
Thursday
• Golf: Alberta Men’s Mid Amateur at Ponoka.
• Rodeo: Innisfail Pro Rodeo 7 p.m., Daines Ranch.
• Men’s ball hockey: Canadiens vs. Boston Pizza, Wild vs. Rangers, 7 p.m.; Blarney Stone vs. Little Caesar’s, Sports World vs. HSE, 8:15 p.m.; Raiders vs. East 40th, Branley’s vs, Sharks, 9:30 p.m.; all games at Kin City.
• Women’s fastball: Bandits at Panthers, Badgers at Ice, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park 1 and 2; Lacombe at Stettler, 7 p.m.
• Senior men’s baseball: Lacombe Stone & Granite at Del Rohn, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park 2.
Friday
• Rodeo: Innisfail Pro Rodeo 7 p.m., Daines Ranch.
• Parkland baseball: Innisfail at Red Deer, 7 p.m., Great Chief Park.
• Men’s rugby: Calgary Rams at Red Deer Titans third division, 7 p.m., Titans Park.
