With a 5-0 victory over West Leyden, Maine West's varsity diamondmen last week captured the 1962 Interim League title and their second in two years. The win gave the Warriors a conference mark of 13-3, and enabled them to finish one game ahead of runner-up Glenbrook. A loss would have forced West to share the title with the Spartans, who ended up at 12-4.

Earlier, the Warriors were knocked out of the state tournament by North Suburban League Mundelein, 7-4. Until that game, Coach Carstens' ninemen had won their first three tourney games. They smashed Lake Forest 24-5 in the district opener, blanked Highland Park 12-0 in the finals, and then surprised North Chicago 6-1 in the first regional game.

Pitcher Chip Allen, who hurled three of West's four tourney games, was tagged with his first loss of the season at Mundelein, as four unearned runs in the fourth proved to be the margin. Although he struck out eight opponents, Allen was reached for 10 hits, the most he had given up in one game all season.

In his two other tourney efforts Allen, mainstay of Coach Carstens' pitching staff this season, threw a four‑hitter at previously unbeaten Highland Park, and did the same to North Chicago. In that game, he struck out 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, and wound up with a total of 15, one short of his season high.

In Interim action the last few weeks, the Warriors dropped two of their last four league games, but still managed to hold on to the lead. Against Willowbrook, the Westmen saw a 13-game winning streak come to an end, as their foes rapped three Maine pitchers for nine runs and nine hits to win 9-5. Dehlin, Pawlowski, and Allen were the West hurlers.

In their final double-header of the season, the Warriors managed a split with Niles West. The ninemen took the first game 5-3 in ten innings (high school games normally last seven) by pushing across a couple of runs in the top half of the tenth on a pair of errors. In the second game, Niles broke loose for six runs in the first inning to assure them of a 9-3 win in that game.

In their final action of the year, the Warriors coasted to a 5-0 win over West Leyden, as they clinched first place. Chip Allen was once again in the spotlight, as he went all the way and pitched a three-hitter against the Knights.

The West diamondmen finished the year with an overall record of 17 wins and just five defeats. The non-conference losses came to Evanston in the second game of the season, and to Mundelein in the tourney. The only Interim teams to beat West were Glenbrook, Willowbrook, and Niles West. In two years now, the Warriors have snared two titles and compiled 'a record of 21-4, with one tie. (This year's crown, by the way, was the fifth consecutive won by a Maine team playing under Coach Al Carstens. Although West did not participate in a loop in 1960, Carstens was at the helm at Maine (before the split) when the Demons took three West Suburban titles and two consecutive state championships.)