The first round of the Nanaimo Senior Men’s Fastball League playoffs was supposed to be a best-of-three series for Gord Closson Forest Products.
But because some Lantzville players had other commitments, including two Australian-born pitchers who are off to the International Senior Softball Association championships, the teams opted to play a single-game semifinal.
That suited GCFP, who won the one-off 2-1 in yet another pitchers’ duel.
Craig Snyder threw seven innings for GCFP, striking out 13 while allowing one hit. The lone run was unearned as the runner reached base on a double, then scored on a passed ball.
“Craig struck out three guys in that inning and they still scored,” manager Joe DiLalla said.
Lantzville chucker Mike Peters gave up just four hits, and Ryan Kline’s second-inning home run was the only earned run charged against him.
Kline went 2-for-3 and scored both runs for GCFP. Prior to the second-inning dinger, he got on base on an error in the first inning, then scored on Snyder’s groundout to first.
Snyder went 1-for-2 at the plate, and Chris Kline had the team’s only other hit.
The two other teams in the NSMFL are still playing a best-of-three semifinal: Wheatsheaf beat Baker Supply in the opener on Tuesday. The winner of that series will face GCFP next Tuesday at Wheatsheaf, and the teams will square off again at Glenora on Wednesday, all games starting at 7 p.m.
“Last year we lost to Wheatsheaf 2-0 in the final,” DiLalla noted. “It’s payback time, hopefully.”
