Team Coke fizzed into the winners’ circle in the Division 2 finals at the Whitehorse Co-ed Slopitch Opening Tournament, which wrapped up Saturday at the Pepsi Softball Centre.
Coke took the title with an 11-8 win over Dave’s Cleaning Crew in an extra inning. Tied 8-8 with runners on first and third, Coke’s Ryan McLaren got to second with a fielding error as the runners scored. Coke’s Jenn Ryan then brought McLaren in on a single, barely beating the throw to first (though not all Dave’s players agreed she had).
Coke advanced to the final through the bottom of the double-elimination draw, having suffered an extra-innings loss to Dave’s in their previous encounter.
“We played another game in between, and they had a break, so maybe we were just hitting better,” said Coke’s Megan Stonehouse. “We always have close games against them. They’re good ball players and we’re good ball players.
“They were able to get their players all together this time. Last time we faced them, in the league, they were missing three or four of their players.”
There was no shame in the loss for Dave’s Crew. The undefeated run to the finals came after the team lost their first four games of the Whitehorse league season, going into the tournament winless.
“It’s incredible. We just totally did a flip-flop,” said Dave’s captain Carmen Semaschuk. “The team just really came together, they were up for it and it was a lot of fun. We really learned a lot as a team this weekend, so that was really good.
“Personally, I had plans for Saturday afternoon, but we just kept winning.”
TEC Drywall fell into third with a 24-12 loss to Coke before the final.
In Division 4 the Bounty Hunters scored five runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 9-2 lead en route to a 14-10 win over EMCO in the finals.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com