The goal is always to get as many good games in as possible, but playing on multiple teams has its disadvantages.
Whitehorse’s Co-operators lost 19-6 in the Dustball’s women’s A division finals against fellow Whitehorse team Yukon Gold on Sunday at the Pepsi Centre after some of its top players were occupied by another final.
“We were missing four of our girls right from the get-go, and they’re big contributors to our team,” said Co-operators captain Tanya Sage. “We went out there and had fun and that’s all that matters.”
“I think (the second inning errors) were just jitters. Live and learn, I guess.”
With a handful of fielding errors in their favour, Yukon Gold jumped to a 15-1 lead by the end of the second, maxing out the 10-run-per-inning rule in the process.
“We had four people on (base) and 10 runs because of errors,” said Yukon Gold captain Terri Cairns.
Late in the second, after already scoring nine runs and going through the batting order, Yukon Gold’s Michelle Massie drove the ball deep in to left field on a play that would have brought in two runs, but only one counted because of the 10-run rule.
Yukon Gold also won the A division last year under the name the Crew, and were second in 2007.
“We normally go to the finals, but it’s been hit-and-miss the last few years,” said Yukon Gold captain Terri Cairns. “So we’re hoping to get a string going.”
Although the Co-operators also suffered a devastating loss in their first game against Yukon Gold, losing 30-3, Sage is quite content with her team’s performance.
“We’ve won B Division twice and were second in C Division last year and now second in A this year,” said Sage. “So we’re not disappointed at all, we’re pretty happy. (Moving into the A Division) was a big leap.”
In a couple weeks the Yukon Gold team is going to Kelowna, BC to compete in the Senior Nationals.
Whitehorse’s Chillers froze-up a third place finish.
Guns outmatched by defending champs
Often called the Young Guns, the Whitehorse team registered as Guns may want to rethink their nickname.
“We are all getting older and you have it in the back of your mind that maybe you’re losing a step or losing a bit of length on the ball,” said Guns captain Shayne King. “But we picked up a couple guys that were fantastic. They’re all younger—we’re all getting long in the tooth, so we picked up four younger guys.”
Nonetheless, the Guns managed to finish second in the men’s B Division, losing 27-19 against Imperial Saloon from Juneau in the finals. Because of a low number of entries, Dustball did not have a men’s A Division.
Under different names, the two teams have met numerous times in the finals, with Imperial winning last year and Guns winning the year before. Imperial also won their first encounter during the round-robin, 17-7. The numerous encounters have resulted in tight games and mutual respect.
“(Guns) is pretty much the team to beat here in Whitehorse, so they are usually in the finals,” said Imperial captain Rob Daniels. “The last six times (in the finals), we’ve played the Young Guns.”
“That’s a really good baseball team; we know that every time we play them, if we don’t get 25, 30 runs, we’re not going to win the ballgame,” said King. “They’re going to hit the heck out of the ball and if you don’t keep up, you’re sunk.
“Innings five and six we were quiet, and if you’re quiet for a couple innings they pull too far ahead and you can’t make up the ground.”
Imperial scored 10 runs in the first after a four-run top of the inning for the Guns. Still in the game, the Guns managed to surge to within one at the top of the fourth at 15-14 before Imperial scored their second four-run inning in a row. Imperial would score four runs at each of their last four at-bats.
The Salad Dodgers from Whitehorse finished third after taking a 26-2 loss to the Guns Sunday morning.
Error ends game during comeback attempt
It may have been a moment of mental abstraction brought on by excitement or just a knowledge gap of the rules. Either way it was costly.
After being down 10-4 in the fourth inning, Wee Fishie closed the gap to 11-8 in the final inning with two out and the tying run at the plate. However, on a hit that should have brought in two base runners, Wee Fishie’s Colin Piltcher was called out at home for sliding headfirst to the plate, which is against slo-pitch rules.
The out gave Peterburg, Alaska’s Harbour Bar an 11-9 win and the co-ed A Division title.
“That’s the first time we’ve heard that rule that you can’t slide headfirst at home plate,” said Wee Fishie captain A.J. Votion. “That’s really tough. Scorebook-wise, that should have been the tying run on base.”
Wee Fishie’s pain could be felt on the Harbour Bar bench as well.
“Who knows what would have happened if that last slide at home didn’t happen?”
said Harbour Bar captain Curt Birchell. “It’s happened to us before, but not as a final out of a game. But we’ve lost a couple runs because of it—just ask (Garrett Bell), he’s done it a few times.”
With a few players occupied by a men’s game, Harbour Bar lost 12-8 in their first game against Wee Fishie on Saturday. But the return of the men’s players was not the only key component of their win, said Birchell.
“Our women hit well, which is really huge when you play co-ed in the upper division,” said Birchell. “A lot of teams expect that that’s where they will get their outs, but when the women hit well you score a lot of runs and it really makes a big difference.”
Taking third in the division were the Whitehorse Dental Donkies.
Other results by division
Women’s B
1st Whitepass (Skagway)
2nd Bamboo Room & Fogcutter Bar (Haines, AK)
3rd Eli Building Repair
Co-ed B
1st Nuway Crushers (Whitehorse)
2nd Haz Gaz (Juneau)
3rd Minda’s Marvels (Juneau)
Men’s C
1st Chico’s Bail Bonds (Skagway)
2nd Pioneer Bar (Haines, AK)
3rd Creep Hawks (Whitehorse)
Women’s C
1st Chicks (Juneau)
2nd Dana Naye Ventures (Whitehorse)
3rd Pillagettes (Whitehorse)
Co-ed C
1st TEC Drywall (Whitehorse)
2nd Complete Concrete (Whitehorse)
3rd Kustom Kut Wilds (Whitehorse)
Men’s D
1st Jat’s Diggers (Whitehorse)
2nd Canada Flooring Layers (Whitehorse)
3rd Coates Diggers (Whitehorse)
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com