Joey Payeur
The Sight and Sound Wolves are starting to howl a playoff tune that may not be music to the ears of their future opposition.
After dropping their postseason opener to sit on the brink of elimination, the No. 5-seeded Wolves ripped off back-to-back win on consecutive evenings in the Rainy River District Fastball League to reestablish themselves as serious title contenders.
The Wolves bounced the No. 6-ranked Rainy River Royals 10-2 in a ‘B’ Side game at VanJura Field on Monday which was postponed from Aug. 6.
John Desaulniers not only got the job done on the mound for Sight and Sound in earning the complete-game victory, but also pounded a home run to help his own cause. Matt Ashworth added another round-tripper off of losing Royals pitcher Jaden Gustafson.
The next evening, the Wolves brought out even bigger bats in sending another team home for the year, hammering the No. 9-seeded Big Island Huskies 12-1 at VanJura Field to oust the Huskies from the playoffs.
Desaulniers again earned the pitching win and launched two more bombs for the host side as part of a four-homer attack which also saw Matt Sweigart and Kevin Bobczynski go deep for the victors. Big Island’s only offence was provided by Will Handorgan, who notched a four-bagger of his own.
In other Tuesday action, No. 7-ranked Stratton ended No. 12-seeded Dawson’s title run with a 10-1 win in Stratton. Guy Arpin recorded the win on the mound for Stratton, while Mitch Seguin took the loss for Dawson.
In ‘A’ Side play, No. 3-ranked Barwick upset No. 2-seeded Beef’s Warriors 6-5, with Barwick’s George Oltsher outpitching Warriors hurler Rob McGinnis to get the decision.
The other ‘A’ Side game Tuesday saw the No. 1-ranked Big Grassy Braves motor past No. 4-seeded Manitou by a 6-2 margin. League home run king Travis Tom homered to support the pitching effort of winner Jeff Morrison, while Bob Andy suffered the loss on the hill for Manitou, despite the fact he slammed a home run for his side.
Tonight, Sight and Sound will look to make it three in a row against Beef’s Warriors in a loser-goes-home matchup, while Stratton travels to Manitou in another elimination battle. Both games begin at 6:30 p.m.
Barwick will head to Big Grassy in both teams’ next game on the ‘A’ Side next Tuesday, while the winners of tonight’s games will also meet the same night on the ‘B’ Side.
