Barwick, Rainy River in finals

The Rainy River District Fastball League playoffs wrap up this week—but the two teams in the finals aren’t likely who the pundits would’ve predicted based on the regular season standings.
The top two ranked teams after the regular season, Big Grassy and Sight & Sound, dropped their opening two games of the playoffs and are no longer in the picture.
“It’s a very competitive league—there’s always good, tight games,” Barwick Blue Knights’ manager George Oltsher said, prior to his team’s game against Rainy River in the league finals last night.
“But Sight & Sound losing their pitcher really affected them, but they still put up a good battle, and Big Grassy lost a couple close games,” he added.
“That’s how it goes.”
Oltsher’s Barwick team opened the playoffs with a hard-fought 7-6 win over Big Island, and then upset the No.1-ranked Big Grassy Lightning 3-2 in the next round.
“We’ve just had some good luck,” Oltsher conceded humbly.
“We had some pretty close games along the way, and the game against Big Grassy was a 2-2 game until about the sixth and we happened to squeak a run in to win.”
The Blue Knights would carry that momentum into the next round, beating a red-hot Stratton Eagles team 10-1 paced by a late-inning grand slam from Kevin Gemmell.
They would then once again have to face Big Island in the semi-finals, after Big Island worked their way back up through the “B” side with wins over Sabaskong and Big Grassy.
But they’d be halted there, as another close game would go in Barwick’s favour, with the Blue Knights picking up a 7-5 victory.
Rainy River has taken the long route to the finals after losing to Stratton 13-0 in the second round. But despite the lopsided loss, they’d recover nicely with a win over Sight & Sound 7-1, and then got redemption on Stratton in the semi-finals with a 10-5 victory. Tony, Marty, and Murray Armstrong all went deep in the win.
If Barwick won last night’s game (still in progress at press time), they’d take the title for the second-straight year. However, if Rainy River took the victory, the two teams would meet on Thursday in Rainy River to decide the championship.