Staff
The Northern O Selects ran into more than a peck of trouble Saturday.
More specifically, it was three Pecks.
The Fleetwood Marlins (B.C.) cruised past the Rainy River District-based Selects 7-0 in the loser’s bracket of the ‘A-Major’ division at the North American Fastpitch Association (NAFA) World Series in Fargo, N.D.
Brandon Peck was on fire on the mound for the Marlins, striking out 11 while holding a very talented lineup of Selects’ hitters to just three hits in his complete-game victory.
Kevin Peck was 1-for-4 with an RBI while Bradley Peck had a triple and a run scored as the Marlins scored one in the first and three more in the fourth to chase starter Travis Tom in favour of his Fort Frances Braves’ teammate, Jaden Gustafson.
Tom allowed seven hits and four runs, with a walk and a strikeout, in his 3 2/3 innings while Gustafson gave up six hits and three runs, while walking two and striking out two, in 3 1/3 innings.
Cole Tymkin (Braves) tripled to account for the Selects’ only extra-base hit of the game.
The Selects had opened play with a 10-3 win over Pennsylvania’s Elanco Blackhawks, with Kevin Gemmell (Barwick Blue Knights) leading the way with a 4-for-4 effort, including a homer.
He had three RBIs and also scored three times.
Northern O used a seven-run fifth to make a winner out of Tom, who pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings in relief of starter John Desaulniers (Sight & Sound Wolves).
Desaulniers and Tymkin each went 3-for-4 in the game, with Tymkin getting three RBIs as the Selects lit up Blackhawks’ starter Dave Stokes for 17 hits.
The Selects then won a nail-biter in their second game–needing to an extra inning before edging Stoneyard (Wis.) 3-2.
Northern O was up 2-1 when Jerry Showers drove in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh.
But the Selects pulled it out in the eighth when Gemmell capped a three-hit outing by cranking a two-out, solo homer off Stoneyard reliever Tim Volden.
Desaulniers then slammed the door shut in the bottom of the frame to finish off his complete-game, four-hitter that featured eight strikeouts and just one walk.
That put the Selects into a matchup with the eventual champion Bowen FP (Ill.), who thumped Northern O 10-2.
The Selects were right in the game through four innings, sitting tied at 2-2.
But Bowen FP loaded the bases thanks to, among other things, an error and a cue shot that went off the end of the bat and fooled the Selects’ infielders about where the ball was going.
The next batter, Eneas Erbes, unloaded a bomb off Desaulniers for a grand slam as part of a five-run fifth.
Bowen FP then tacked on three more in the sixth as Julian Fernandez went the distance, giving up 10 hits while striking out nine.
Desaulniers surrendered nine runs on seven hits and struck out six in five innings before getting the hook in favour of Gustafson.
Former Pinewood Bears’ star and now Manitoba resident Kyle Langlais had a 3-for-3 day for Northern O and added one RBI.
Bowen FP also proved to be a headache for a modified version of the Selects, eliminating them 2-0 in the semi-finals en route to the title in the 23-Under Aug. 11-13 division in Fargo.
The younger Selects went winless in three games–first losing to Northwest Braves (Ore.) 9-0 in four innings.
Morgan Desserre had the lone hit for the local squad as the tag team of Parker Lyga and winning pitcher Kyle Fry struck out a combined eight batters.
Chase Jackson gave up 10 hits while walking seven batters, versus only two strikeouts, in taking the loss.
Then a 10-run first inning catapulted the Young Thunder Selects (Missouri) past the Selects by a 15-8 score.
Meanwhile, the local Northern Extremes crafted a 2-2 record in the Men’s Rec category in Fargo.
The Extremes opened with a 7-0 shutout of Cardinal Tap (Minnesota), then downed Cerro Gordo (Minnesota) 12-7.
Their first setback came at the hands of the North Dakota-based Knights by a margin of 7-2 to leave the Extremes in second place in Pool ‘B.’
That put them into a quarter-final battle with John’s Plumbing (New Brunswick), who prevailed 8-5 to eliminate the local squad from further contention.
Rob McGinnis (Windey’s Warriors) was outstanding for the Extremes, compiling a monstrous .692 batting average to earn a spot on the All-World team named at the tournament’s end.
The Sight & Sound Wolves will try their luck in Fargo this weekend when they travel there to play in the ‘A’ Division of the NAFA World Series.
