Local Sports

Gustavo Oliveira scored in the 34th minute, but it was all the Thunder Bay Chill could manage Friday night as their dreams of a second Premier Development League championship came to a crashing halt.

The Border Cats opened their five-game road trip with a convincing win in St. Cloud Thursday. The Cats rallied in the eighth and ninth innings, after trailing 3-2, to collect an 8-3 win St. Cloud River Bats.

A no-doubt-about-it, three-run homerun that came off the bat of Kevin Taylor and soared over the rightfield fence at Port Arthur Stadium sent the Border Cats to a 5-2 victory over rival Duluth Huskies Wednesday night.

The United Soccer Leagues has announced the finalists for the 2011 PDL Honors, and several Chill names have made the list of nominees.

A late game rally by the Duluth Huskies undid eight innings of solid pitching and defence by the Border Cats Tuesday night. The Cats, now 11-14 in the second half, fell to the Huskies 3-1 despite shutting down Duluth’s offence for eight innings.

Thunder Bay Chill veterans Wilson Neto and Brandon Swartzendruber will enter the Premier Development League final four as all stars.

The Border Cats won a defensive battle on home turf 1-0 against rival Duluth Huskies Monday. The single run came in the bottom of the ninth inning at Port Arthur Stadium in front of a holliday crowd of more than 650 people.

It took six years, but Robert Cumming has claimed his third Strathcona Invitational victory. Cumming faced off against seven-time champion Barry Caland and broke his four-year winning streak with a 5-2 victory on Monday.

Cullen Mahoney wants to keep things simple. The 21-year-old Phoenix native has been the Border Cats most consistent hitter. Already well into the second-half of the season, Mahoney boasts an batting average of .341 in 164 plate appearances.

The Thunder Bay Chill are back in the Premier Development League’s final four for the third time in four seasons. They have one of their longest-serving players to thank.