Emporium earns 'must' win in Alle-Catt

Emporium's fading hopes of an Alle-Catt Amateur Baseball League championship got a shot in the arm Sunday as the Cats put away the visiting Olean Royals, 12-4.

Things could get interesting if Emporium (6-5) can score a win at Ludlow (1-10) this Saturday and then knock off East Division leader Port Allegany (7-3) when those teams meet next Saturday on the Roulette diamond. Both games start at 2 pm.

Ralph McKimm Jr. pitched six-plus effective innings to get the win against the Royals (3-7). He surrendered just three hits, walked three and struck out 11. Rick Uber relieved in the seventh.

Uber had the big bat with a home run, double and five runs batted in. Jon Meyer added a triple, single and two RBI. Paul Baker doubled and singled. Ken Meyer and Drew Tompkins each added a couple of hits.

Austin (6-5) was idle last weekend and returns to action with a home game Saturday against the Olean Oilers (3-6) at 2 pm.