Class B games rained out

LOCAL
Playoff seriesrained out
STRUTHERS -- Tuesday's Class little b championship series games and Class B playoff games were rained out.
The little b best-of-five series is tied at 1 between Rondinelli Tuxedo and R & amp;J Trucking. Game three will be at 6 p.m. tonight on Cene 2 with game four following at 8.
The first round of the Class B playoffs will also be played tonight on Cene 1. Wharmby Sports will play R & amp;J Trucking at 6 with defending league champs Mink Financial taking on Rondinelli Tuxedo at 8. Both series are best-of-three with the two winners series advancing to face top-seeded Livi Steel and second-seeded Astro Falcons in the second round.
The tournament trail begins this Saturday with the American Amateur Baseball Congress state Mickey Mantle tournament for 15-16-year-olds.
Ursuline reunion
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 1956 Ursuline High School football team is planning a 50th reunion for Sept. 15-16.
Members of the last undefeated Irish team that went 10-0 and won the City Series championship will gather for a dinner on Friday and attend the Steubenville game on Saturday.
For reservations, contact Joe Balmer (330) 856-2365 or Tony Calucchia (309) 347-8173. The committee would also be interested in hearing from former players who have any memorabilia.
Senior bowling
BRENTWOOD, Calif. -- Chuck Fairchild Jr. of Boardman was 98th after Monday's action in the PBA Senior Tour-Senior Northern California Classic at Harvest Park Bowl.
Fairchild's first-round total of 1,495 was for an eight-game pinfall.
REGION
Penguins sign Ruutu
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins signed free-agent forward Jarkko Ruutu on Tuesday.
Ruutu, 30, played last season with the Vancouver Canucks, recording ten goals, seven assists and 142 penalty minutes.
The 6-foot, 200-pound native of Helsinki, Finland, appeared in 267 career NHL games, all with Vancouver, recording 23 goals and 28 assists and 453 penalty minutes. He won a silver medal with Finland at the 2006 Winter Olympics and a silver medal with Finland at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
Ruutu was drafted 68th overall by Vancouver in 1998.
Make-A-Wishsells baseballs
PITTSBURGH -- The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania and Southern West Virginia are selling a limited edition set of two baseballs that pay tribute to this year's All-Star game at PNC Park and the 1979 Pirates team that won the World Series.
Only 5,000 of the two-ball sets, which come with an upscale acrylic display case, will be produced, with the goal of raising $30,000 for the local foundation. The sets will be sold for $59.95. For details, call 1-800-345-2868 or visit www.nikcosports.com.
NATION
MLB dismissesCanseco claims
Major League Baseball on Tuesday took a stand against admitted steroids user Jose Canseco, calling the former slugger's allegations that the league might be playing favorites with some big-name players when it comes to positive drug tests "complete nonsense."
Canseco, who last played in the majors for the Chicago White Sox in 2001, returned to professional baseball with the independent San Diego Surf Dawgs on Monday in Chico, Calif. Before the game, he made critical comments about how baseball officials are handling the new, stricter steroids policy and said a "cleanup" in the commissioner's office is needed.
Major League Baseball initially declined to react to Canseco's latest diatribe, in which he called baseball the "mafia" and suggested the sport isn't interested in knowing the truth about some star players' use of performance-enhancing drugs. But, on Tuesday, the league strongly denied Canseco's statements.
"His allegations are complete nonsense," spokesman Rich Levin said.
"The policy sounds great, but that's not the problem," Canseco said Monday. "There are major problems not with the policies but the individuals who are instituting this policy. For example, and this is theoretical, if Roger Clemens gets tested and he gets tested positive and it comes back, what do these individuals do with this policy? I think it's going to depend on a case-to-case, player-to-player basis."
Canseco's return -- he went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and got hit by a pitch -- comes some 16 months after he attracted the attention of Congress with an autobiography, "Juiced," that accused several top players of steroid use. Those accused included fellow Cuban Rafael Palmeiro, who was suspended on Aug. 1 last season for violating baseball's new steroids policy and claimed he didn't know how the drug got in his body.
Canseco accused baseball of cutting Palmeiro a deal to testify against him, saying MLB then went ahead and leaked Palmeiro's positive test out of fear that Congress would find out.
Said Levin, "The stuff about Palmeiro is complete fabrication."
Vindicator staff/wire reports