Wolves roar off to torrid start

The Sight & Sound Wolves have rattled off eight-straight wins to find themselves tied atop the Rainy River District Fastball League standings with Big Grassy at 8-1.
“We lost our first game to Big Grassy, kind of had the early-season jitters, but we picked up a couple new guys [Logan Allen and George Halverson] and we’ve got a good, experienced group back again from last year,” Wolves’ manager Derek McKinnon said.
“We have one of the older teams in the league, lots of the guys have been playing together for five or six years now,” he noted. “We’ve had a couple rain-outs, [but] all the teams are a few games behind.”
There’s been a big discrepancy between the top two teams and the rest of the league so far this season, with blow-out scores not an uncommon sight.
The Wolves’ most recent home game proved much of the same last Thursday evening at VanJura Stadium, where the home side trounced the visiting Barwick Blue Knights 11-2.
Marcel Pagee paced the hosts with a two-run bomb, his first of the season, in the bottom of the first while Bob Andy tossed six solid innings, including getting out of a fourth-inning jam when runners were on second and third with no outs.
He escaped unscathed by inducing a pop-up to shallow left before back-to-back strikeouts ended the Barwick threat.
The visitors finally broke the goose egg with two runs in the sixth but the Wolves responded with five in their half of the inning, including a two-run shot by Cole Kaemingh (his second in as many games).
Pagee then came in to pitch the seventh and made short work of Barwick to close out the rout.
“This year, it’s not a rule but the league is trying to have the teams work two pitchers into the games if they can,” McKinnon noted. “Marcel Pagee has been cleaning up games lately for us after we get up by six or seven runs to give him a little bit more work.”
Pagee’s natural position is shortstop, but he’s been happy with the way things have gone for him on the mound so far this year—and hopes to continue to get some work and improve.
“I just have to throw more. Just like anything, it’s repetition,” Pagee noted. “The more you go through it, the easier it is.”
Despite enjoying his chances to pitch this season, Pagee knows he’s second in line to longtime ace Bob Andy—and he’s perfectly fine with that arrangement.
“Bob Andy’s our horse, but if something does happen to him, at least we have another chucker now,” Pagee said with a laugh.
“Everyone in the league knows that when they see him [Andy], they are in tough. I’m just glad he’s on my team,” Pagee added.
Despite belting two home runs last Thursday, the Wolves have been winning big despite the fact their home run production is down compared to past seasons.
“Pitching has probably been the biggest part, we aren’t giving up many runs,” McKinnon noted. “We’ve always been a strong defensive team, but we’ve put up plenty of runs, too.”
Sight & Sound, which was back in action last night in Sabaskong (the outcome of which wasn’t known prior to press time), plays home games every Thursday at 8 p.m. at VanJura.