The Emo Bulldogs, defending champions of the Rainy River District Fastball League, will be off to Mankato, Mn. this weekend to compete in the first of two qualifiers for the North American Fastball Association championships.
They will play six games this weekend, then six more at a second qualifier in Fargo, N.D. in early June.
The top team after those 12 games will earn a berth into the NAFA tournament later this year in Albuquerque, N.M.
This marks the first time a team from the RRDFL will try to qualify, said Bulldog manager Jim Fowler, who noted six players from Thunder Bay and two more from Dryden also will be suiting up for them.
Fowler said they should be taking a strong lineup blessed with a good balance of speed and power to Mankato.
“It’s one step up from [the play] around here,” Fowler said. “Hitting-wise, we can play with anybody. We have good speed but we mostly can hit the long ball.
“We have power all the way through the lineup,” he remarked
Fowler said their biggest weakness in past years has been pitching, especially in the late innings. But he feels the team has addressed that problem by adding pitchers to its lineup.
In related news, John Desaulnier, a star pitcher with the Pinewood Bears of the RRDFL, also will be going down to Mankato to play for the Fargo Black Knights.
Desaulnier already has earned a trip to Albuquerque based on another Fargo team’s performance last season.
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