Elisabeth Heslop
The annual Canada Day fastball tournament in Barwick crowned a familiar champion again this year.
The Sight & Sound Wolves (Fort Frances) thumped the Barwick Blue Knights’ “Young Guns” 11-2 in the ‘A’ final to capture the title for the third-straight year.
Wolves’ manager Derek McKinnon said the secret to their strength throughout the tournament was teamwork.
“I think it was a team effort,” he remarked. “It was solid defensively, everyone played good defence, and it seemed like everyone was hitting right through the lineup.
“There was nobody they could really pitch around or anything like that.
“Everybody hit very well,” McKinnon enthused.
That good defence and timely hitting was evident in all their games, including an 8-3 win in their opener against the Barwick “Old Guys” and then a 6-2 victory over Big Island in the semi-finals.
“I think the biggest thing that helped us was that we didn’t give up very many runs, it was more of a defensive thing,” noted McKinnon.
“We weren’t putting up huge numbers but you know when you only hold them to two, three runs a game, you should be able to win a game,” he reasoned.
He added having everybody back on the lineup was a big help, too.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit ’cause we’ve been short of guys sometimes and we have guys playing different positions, but we had everybody in their regular spot and everybody was just kind of relaxed and it just kind of all came together,” McKinnon explained.
Blue Knights’ manager George Oltsher said it was a good day overall.
“There were lots of real close games,” he remarked, noting the ‘B’ final went nine innings before the Sabaskong Cubs pulled out a 7-6 win over the Rainy River Royals.
Host Barwick fielded two teams this year—the regular Blue Knights (referred to as the “Young Guns”) and an alumni squad (the “Old Guys”).
Oltsher said the Young Guns played strong, beating Stratton 9-3 and Big Grassy 3-1, but added their young pitcher, J.J. Landry, “ran out of gas” against Sight & Sound in the final.
McKinnon and the Wolves also noticed the difference in Landry’s pitching.
“They only had one pitcher,” McKinnon said, and after the first couple innings of the final, “he kinda got a little tired out and started to lose velocity, and we started hitting them pretty good after that.”
When asked how the day went for the Barwick teams, Oltsher cited the Young Guns’ achievements, then chuckled and said that the Old Guys “had lots of fun.”
“There were guys that hadn’t played for 15 or 20 years on the team,” he said.
“It was great for the ‘Old Guys’ to get together and renew acquaintances, and just have a good time,” he added.
In regular-season play of the Rainy River District Fastball League, Barwick’s game against Sabaskong last Thursday was postponed while Sight & Sound had a bye.
Barwick was scheduled to face Rainy River last night, with Sight & Sound visiting Big Island (scores were not available by press time).
