Sight & Sound vying for berth in final

This is it. Win, or you’re out. Kaput. Finnito. Finished.
The stage is set for tonight’s Rainy River District Fastball League playoff game between host Sight & Sound and Big Grassy, with the winner playing Barwick for the league championship on Tuesday.
Game time is 8 p.m. at VanJura Stadium.
Sight & Sound stayed alive with a 10-6 win over Barwick here this past Tuesday while Big Grassy had edged Stratton 6-5.
But because it was Barwick’s first loss of the playoffs, they earned the right to play a second game for the league crown.
“We still wanted to win, though,” Kevin Gemmell said after his team’s loss here Tuesday night. “The whole team played good, but I blew a couple of throws.
“In the last inning, we got the tying run to the plate, but he was called out on a questionable call,” added Gemmell, referring to teammate Mike Anderson being called out on strikes with the bases loaded.
Barwick also was missing one of its best players in Jock Gemmell, who left for Mount Allison University, where he will be playing linebacker for the Mounties under former Muskie coach Scott Fawcett.
Meanwhile, Sight & Sound will be missing its best player tonight in Don Copenace, who went 4-for-4 against Barwick on Tuesday night, including two clutch home runs.
“We had a little meeting before [Tuesday’s] game. We knew we would have to be aggressive and play fundamental baseball,” Copenace said.
He started the game at shortstop, but took over the pitching duties after starter Harvey Flamand hurt his pitching hand.
“I just like to come to the ballpark to have fun. If I didn’t have fun, I wouldn’t be doing it,” Copenace said. “I just try to keep the guys up.
“Because when you’re not having fun, you’re not doing well. And when you’re having fun, you’re playing well,” reasoned Copenace, who is playing in the Six Nations All-Ontario fastball championships in Hamilton this week on an invitation from a friend.
Without Copenace, top-seed Sight & Sound knows it will be in tough tonight against a Big Grassy team that, though ranked fourth coming out of the regular season, hasn’t made it this far by luck.
“We’ll have to tighten up on defence for sure.” Copenace said after Tuesday night’s game. “We have Big Grassy coming up here and they’re not a team to take lightly.
“If we hit the ball and have good offence like we did today [Tuesday], I think we’ll do okay.”
Barwick, sitting in the wings, hopes Sight & Sound, the defending RRDFL champions, will beat Big Grassy so they can try to exact some revenge in the final on Tuesday, which will be held on their home diamond.
“I’d like to face them again,” said Gemmell. “I think they played their best game and we played our mediocre game. So we’ll play a good game in the finals.”