Bulldogs opt out of World Series

For the second-straight year, lack of preparation has prevented the Bulldogs from going to the North American Fastball Association Division II World Series later this month.
The Rainy River District Fastball League team decided not to attend the tournament, which is set for Aug. 18-21 in Salem, Ore., late last week after missing several key qualifying tournaments.
“It just wasn’t feasible with not having enough competitive play heading in,” said Bulldogs co-captain and starting pitcher Warren Voth. “We couldn’t get together to play the big tournaments.
“We held off [cancelling] as long as we could. It’s definitely tough not to go,” he added.
Since qualifying for the World Series in May, the Bulldogs missed prep tournaments in Rice Lake, Wis., Kakabeka Falls, and Fargo, N.D. The June flooding prevented them from making some of those dates as a fair portion of the travelling team consists of players from Kenora and Thunder Bay.
The Bulldogs last went to the World Series in 2000, where they finished in the top 10. And Voth isn’t closing the book on future trips.
“We’ll work on it again for next year and see if we have the interest. The guys are always interested in going to States,” he remarked.
In the meantime, the Bulldogs will be chasing their seventh-straight RRDFL title when league playoffs begin next week. They closed out the regular season with five-straight wins to finish at 9-8.
“We’ve turned things around,” said Voth, who has been out of the line-up since June with a torn right shoulder. “Don [Copenace] and Shane [Bliss] have been giving us good pitching and we’re looking forward to defending [our title].”
In related news, Big Grassy—the last-place team with a 2-14 record—used a four-run outburst in the third inning en route to a 7-3 win over eighth-place Stratton in a one-game playoff Thursday night.
They’ll next play top-ranked Rainy River (16-2-1) there Tuesday.
Other first-round action Tuesday will see Sight-and-Sound at Hyatt’s Contracting, Big Island at Barwick, and Pinewood at Bulldogs (Couchiching).