Saskatchewan’s Baseball Hall of Fame is honouring one of Trail’s residents for a baseball game he played in 1957.
Wallace “Wally” Pruden pitched a perfect game with the Lashburn Linnets in the 1957 provincial Little League tournament in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan and led to the Linnets’ second consecutive provincial title. Before the 1956 tournament, Lashburn hadn’t seen a provincial win since 1909 when a boxer brought home the provincial championships.
According to a press release from the Hall of Fame, only three players handled the ball in the whole game – Pruden, the catcher and the first baseman.
“Facing only 18 batters in six innings, giving up no runs, no hits, and striking out 13 batters, this was a history record,” read the release.
Not only was the Trail firefighter a star pitcher, he wasn’t too bad when he was up to the plate to bat, either.
“Provincial playoff batting averages record Pruden playing 12 games, at bat 31 times with 10 home runs, 38 runs batted in and a batting average of .645,” said the press release.
Pruden is being awarded a spot in the hall of fame for his baseball talent on Aug. 16 in the individual player category.
“When the going got tough and he and the team were under pressure, Wally remained cool and came through for the team,” said the press release. “Wally was a very level headed, calm and polite young man which was carried over to his ball playing. He played third base, but he was (strong) to the team as a pitcher.”