A loss by each Canadian team in the International Falls Little League last week spelled bad news for the clubs—they’d have to face each other this past Tuesday.
And the bad news didn’t stop there, at least for the Fort Frances Wal-Mart squad. They lost 21-3 to the Barwick Merchants in Major ‘A’ action—a rout that was called after the fourth inning due to a 10-run mercy rule.
“I feel sorry for Fort Frances,” Merchants’ manager Ken Wilson said after the game, which was played over in the Falls. “They ran out of pitching.
“They’re far better than that,” he added. “Usually we’re at each other’s throats.”
Both Wilson and Wal-Mart manager Don Larson had predicted last night’s playoff showdown would be a close one given their regular-season series—and for the first two innings, at least, it looked like that would be the case.
The Merchants posted three runs in their half of the opening frame, to which Wal-Mart responded with a pair in the bottom half.
But the tide turned in the top of the third when a series of walks by Fort Frances resulted in a seven-run inning for Barwick, making the score 12-3—just a run shy of the mercy rule.
A game that already was something of a laugher become a farce when Barwick put another nine runs on the board in the top of the fourth.
It wasn’t a game Wilson was particularly looking forward beforehand. He and Larson played against each other for years and, as the only local teams playing in the playoffs across the river, they had a rooting interest in each other’s play.
“It’s too bad we got to put each other out, but that’s the way it is,” Wilson had said days before the lopsided contest.
Yesterday’s game between the two Canadian clubs was brought about by a bad night last Wednesday by both squads. Barwick fell to Northern Lumber 10-0 while Wal-Mart was blanked 7-0 by Meyers Sports.
“We had a bit of a problem. We ran out of pitching,” Wilson noted, referring to the rules set during playoff matches that limit how many days off pitchers need after long outings.
“Besides that, one of our key players was confused about the time so we were short all the way around.”
Things didn’t work out much better for Wal-Mart, which left the bases loaded three times in their previous game.
Larson insisted his pitching corps was up to the challenge for that match, but the problem was the team was “not getting timely hitting.”
The near week-long break left both clubs with a fresh set of arms, although only the Merchants were able to reap the benefits last night.
Being in the consolation bracket, Barwick will have to win games tonight, tomorrow, and Friday to win the league title. Just making it to Friday could be quite difficult given the pitch counts in place.
In their previous three match-ups during the regular season, Barwick won two and Wal-Mart took the other, “and all three games were right down to the wire,” said Wilson.
Meanwhile, in Major ‘B’ action, the Fort Frances-based Kiwanis team is undefeated and in action tomorrow (Thursday) in what could be the final game in their playoff bracket.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
