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Guns and Titans win at Dustball, Juneau claims co ed A title

The Guns were on target in the men’s division, the Titans were titans of the women’s and McGivney’s team had good reason to hoist a few on Sunday. Whitehorse teams P&M Recycling Guns and Yukon Titans won the men’s and women’s A titles and Juneau’s McGivney’s Bar & Grill took the co-ed A division.
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The Guns were on target in the men’s division, the Titans were titans of the women’s and McGivney’s team had good reason to hoist a few on Sunday.

Whitehorse teams P&M Recycling Guns and Yukon Titans won the men’s and women’s A titles and Juneau’s McGivney’s Bar & Grill took the co-ed A division of the Dustball Invitational Slo-Pitch Tournament at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

Despite players dropping like flies to injury, the P&M Guns went undefeated, beating Skagway’s Alaska Fudge Co. 16-8 for their second A title in a row and sixth in the last seven years.

“The injury bug hit us hard this year and having a deep team 100 per cent paid off. We had a couple injuries coming in. Myself, out for the year; Aaron France was hurting coming into it; our assistant captain Troy Cairns, he rolled his ankle playing in Skagway; and then we lost two during the weekend,” said Guns captain Michael Tuton, who broke his leg in a tournament three weeks ago.

“We lost the anchor of our outfield the last 10 years, Matt Kremer, he had hamstring issues. Sheldon King – maybe one of the best leadoff hitters ever in this tournament – was out with a concussion yesterday.

“We had the guys on the bench come in a fill the roles and they did great.”

The Guns opened up a 9-0 lead by the end of the second. Joe Vigneau put a deep shot to left field to drive in two to get the ball rolling in the first. Derek Kindervater and Jeff Frizzell then added RBIs to finish the inning.

Bryden Cook and Shayne King drove in a couple to start the second before Vigneau put another off the wall to make it 8-0. Kindervater registered his second RBI to bottom out the inning.

Up 11-6 in the middle of the sixth, Brian White grounded to right field to add two more before Mr. RBI - Vigneau - hit a three-run shot to centre field, blasting it over Softball Yukon’s new 40-foot netting behind the outfield fence.

“It was a team effort from day one to today,” said Tuton. “Our pitchers were very impressive – Brian White and Bryden Cook. It seemed every day someone stepped up and just got the job done.”

“The injury bug really scared us. We’ll give it a few days, let the swelling go down and see where some guys are at,” he added.

Titans hold on for women’s A title

After two third place finishes and a second place in 2014, the Yukon Titans finally clinched the women’s A final in Dustball.

The Titans, who will represent Yukon at the nationals next month, downed Juneau’s Killer Bees 8-6 in the final.

“I’m so excited.… The girls did awesome,” said Titans captain Roni-Sue Steinhagen. “It’s about time. This is my fourth year with this team. We’ve had a couple players coming and going, but we’ve had our base core all these years. We picked up some awesome players for nationals and here we are.”

The Titans, who lost to the Killer Bees in a game Friday, wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, scoring two in the first and two in the second for a 4-0 lead.

They then doubled that in the fourth to make it 8-1. Andrea Rodger hit a single down the third base line to score one; Melanie Lachapelle knocked a blooper over the infield for two more; and Tiffani Mazzilli put a line drive through the mitt of the Bees’ third baseman and into the outfield for an RBI.

Both the Titans and the P&M Recycling Guns will represent Yukon at the 2016 Men’s and Women’s Canadian Slo-Pitch Championships this Aug. 7-13 in Whitehorse.

“You can never feel too confident because then you mess up,” said Steinhagen. “We’re just going to work hard, practice three times a week because nationals is killer ball. Dustball is a practice, nationals is like semi-professional ball. We know that because we were there in Ontario last year. We’re going to prepare for it, we’re not going to take anything for granted. We want to make Yukoners, our friends and family proud when they come watch us.”

McGivney’s undefeated in co-ed A

McGivney’s Bar & Grill team prevented a Whitehorse sweep of the A divisions on Sunday.

The Juneau team went undefeated to win the co-ed A division, capping their run with a 15-6 win over Whitehorse’s Complete Concrete in the final.

“We’re pretty happy. We came as a co-ed committed team with expectations to end up in this championship game today,” said McGivney’s captain A.J. Votion. “We performed well; we didn’t lose any games all weekend.”

McGivney’s, who lost in the final two years ago and didn’t compete last year, rose to the top with a big fourth inning. Tied 5-5, Gary Speck hit a double off the wall bring in a run. Votion then added another with a single. Brittany Fenumiai brought in three more – including the game-winning run – with a triple to left field for a 10-5 lead.

“Most of this roster is from our regular season co-ed team with a few guys from our league that play on other teams that we added,” said Votion.

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukn-news.com

Results

Men’s A

1st P&M Recycling Guns (Whitehorse)

2nd Alaska Fudge Co. (Skagway)

3rd Dave’s Cleaning Crew (Whitehorse)

Men’s B

1st Brewers (Whitehorse)

2nd Thibodeau’s Kenny’s Liquor (Juneau)

3rd Urban Realty Reds (Whitehorse)

Men’s C

1st Big Bear Donair (Whitehorse)

2nd CRB Pop-Ups (Carmacks)

3rd Tetra Tech (Whitehorse)

Women’s A

1st Yukon Titans (Whitehorse)

2nd Killer Bees (Juneau)

3rd Rebecca’s Roses (Fort McPherson)

Women’s B

1st Sistas (Whitehorse)

2nd Booster Juice (Whitehorse)

3rd Nuway (Whitehorse)

Women’s C

1st Dave’s Cleaning Crew (Whitehorse)

2nd Frontier Gifts (Juneau)

3rd Triple J’s (Whitehorse)

Co-ed A

1st McGivney’s Bar & Grill (Juneau)

2nd Complete Concrete (Whitehorse)

3rd Whitehorse Dental Donkeys (Whitehorse)

Co-ed B

1st Thibodeau’s Valley Liquor (Juneau)

2nd Vic City Mercenaries (Victoria)

3rd Wounded Deere (Whitehorse)

Co-ed C

1st Aklak Air Falcons (Inuvik)

2nd Carmacks Nighthawks (Carmacks)

3rd Philmar RV (Whitehorse)

Co-ed D

1st Predators (Whitehorse)

2nd KDFN (Whitehorse)

3rd HUB (Whitehorse)