A Saturday night party

EDMONTON — Steve Hogle along with Randy Gregg and the rest of the Edmonton Riverhawks ownership throw a summer party with almost … everything. A gorgeous location, nestled on the north shore of the mighty North Saskatchewan River. Entertainment, with ethnic traditionalDance and a band — the Duster Brothers — before the event.

Refreshments, beer, soft drinks, hot dogs and candy. Community, with a Food Bank a soft—very soft—solicitation for food since the Heritage Days Festival, where the Food Bank collects a vast amount of food, experienced weather conditions which shut the festival down, leaving donation boxes well short of full capacity; and a tribute to Jasper firefighters, who have re-defined the work and sacrifices of their craft. A drone, circling high above the gathering: but low enough to show the multitude of people enjoying everything a warm August evening in Edmonton generously offers.

And, oh yes. There’s a baseball game, the marquee event. Playoffs, too — in fact, the first post-season affair in Riverhawks history, with the Bellingham Bells in Game 1 of the West Coast League best-of-three series.

Games 2, and if necessary, go Sunday and Monday in Bellingham, Washington , 850 km southwest of Edmonton. The Riverhawks are in the driver’s seat following a 3-1 win over the Bells.

Bellingham drew first blood — an RBI single, up the gap, in the top of the third inning. The Riverhawks threatened in the bottom of the first inning, leaving two men on base. Edmonton tied the game an inning an a half later to make it a 1-1 game. The Riverhawks impressively went up 3-1 in the sixth inning, with smart base running and a few costly errors. Edmonton diverted from a potential disaster in the top of the seventh. The

Bells, with runners on second and third with one out, hit into a double play.

In the Bells top of the ninth, it was 1-2-3 for Edmonton to preserve the victory.

You can read all the numbers and Cody Schmidt’s story for more details. What you can’t feel, though, is the wonderful sense of community of being together. The line-up behind the first base dug out for people of all ages to run the bases was long. And the fireworks set off from centre field just after 10 p.m. was the perfect ending of an evening of genuine entertainment.