Lucas Punkari
The 50th season of the Rainy River District Fastball League had a number of dramatic twists and turns during its three months of action.
But when the final out was recorded on the diamond in Stratton last Thursday evening, the team that was the best during the regular season also proved to be just that when it mattered most.
After being pushed to a “winner-take-all” affair by the Stratton Eagles in the first game of the final last Tuesday night, the Big Grassy Braves romped to a 14-6 win Thursday to earn their first RRDFL title in only their third year of existence.
“We’re the first team from Big Grassy to win the title, as well, so we are pretty jacked about that,” Braves’ pitcher Travis Tom smiled after the game.
“Our team is a really young one, but we really came together as the year went on and we are really proud of what we accomplished,” he added.
After being eliminated in the quarter-finals last year by the Rainy River Royals, the Braves came out on fire right from the start of the season, eventually finishing atop the 12-team loop with a 14-3 record.
“We started off strong and kept it up all summer long,” Tom noted.
“Everyone was contributing, whether it be at the plate or in the field, and that helped us out a lot,” he reasoned.
The Braves continued that momentum into the double-knockout playoffs, advancing straight to the final thanks to a convincing 7-1 triumph over Beef’s Warriors back on Aug. 9.
As the Braves rested up, the fifth-place Eagles went on an impressive run of their own—rattling off four-straight wins to earn a berth into the final, including a 9-4 upset of the second-place Warriors in the semi-final.
“We just took it one game at a time, and a lot of the times we just took it one inning and one at-bat at a time,” noted Eagles’ pitcher Guy Arpin.
“We just nipped away at things, and we have a number of young players that helped us out, as well,” he remarked.
“And we just had fun with it along the way.”
The Eagles’ playoff momentum continued in the first game of the final last Tuesday at Big Grassy. Arpin belted a grand slam in the top of the sixth to help his team stay alive with an 8-7 triumph.
“They were up early on as Travis was pitching a really good game, so I had to change my strategy a little bit on the mound to combat their strong hitting,” Arpin recalled.
“In the sixth inning, they had made a couple of errors that allowed us to load up the bases and I was able to get a good hit off,” he added.
“I can’t say I was looking to hit it out of the yard, as I was just hoping to make contact, but it was pretty exciting to hit that grand slam.”
The Braves still had a chance to win, or at least force extra innings, but they went quietly with six-straight outs over the final two frames to suffer their first loss of the post-season.
In fact, it was their first setback of any kind since a regular-season defeat to the Barwick Blue Knights on July 13.
“It was just one stupid pitch from me that gave up the grand slam,” Tom sighed.
“In a way, I think the break we had after the win against Beef’s Warriors might have hurt us a bit as we didn’t get to practice with each other a whole lot leading up to our game on Tuesday since we are kind of scattered all over the place,” he added.
“But we aren’t using that as an excuse,” he stressed.
Early on last Thursday, it looked as if the Eagles’ momentum would continue.
They bounced back from giving up a pair of runs in the top of the first with a four-run outburst in the bottom half, capped off by a RBI triple from Brock Vandenbrand.
On the mound, though, Arpin was starting to run into some control issues as he plunked a couple of Braves’ hitters in the early going, which caused him to change his strategy.
“In Big Grassy on Tuesday, I had hit a few more batters than I normally do and that was carrying over early on in this game,” he explained.
“Getting hit is part of the game, but I don’t like getting hit and I don’t like hitting guys so I started to back off a bit.
“Once I did that, they started to pound the ball more.
“But I was in a ‘Catch-22’ situation at the point, so what can you do?” Arpin reasoned.
With their bats starting to fire on all cylinders, the Braves used their power at the plate to move out in front for good, with Mitch Seguin, Tim Archie, Brendan Big George, Dakota Andy, and Tom all hitting round-trippers.
“It was in the fourth inning where things turned around for us,” Tom noted.
“The bottom of the lineup stepped up with Brendan hitting a two-run homer to give us a 5-4 lead, and that really got us going.
“And for me on the mound, that gave me a little bit of an extra push,” he smiled.
Although his team fell short in collecting their first RRDFL championship since 1994, Arpin was pleased with how the season went for the Eagles.
“The team played really well all year long and I’m really happy with how things went,” he remarked.
“Everyone contributed in our lineup, and it was that total team effort that allowed us to win those tight games.
“In the finals, we played against a tough Big Grassy team that is able to hit the ball well and that is exactly what they did.”
As for the Braves, Tom already is looking forward to the challenge of defending their RRDFL title in 2013, especially with a number of young players making an impact in the league.
“That’s something that is great for this league,” he enthused.
“Everyone has a strong side, and every team has a number of good, strong young players coming up, and that’s nice to see.”
