The Lloydminster Steel Dodgers and the Carnduff Steelers punched their tickets to the finals at the Western Canadian Fastpitch Championships in Abbotsford on Saturday.
Lloydminster, who finished first in the men’s round robin at 6-0, thumped the second-place Bruno Merchants 8-1 to advance directly to Sunday’s title game.
On the women’s side, Saskatchewan champion Carnduff blasted the North Delta Sunfire 10-0 in the first-second game. Both teams had finished the round robin with 4-1 records.
The men’s and women’s championships games run at 1 p.m. Sunday at Exhibition Park, and Bruno and North Delta have a chance to battle their way through the back side of the playoff draw to the finals. The semifinals are at 10 a.m.
Earlier in the day Saturday, the Abbotsford Yard Dogs – the lone local team in the tournament – saw their title dreams snuffed thanks to a 6-3 loss to Bruno.
The Yard Dogs came into the day with a 2-3 record and needed a victory in their round-robin finale plus a loss by Nanaimo Wheatsheaf to get into a tiebreaker for the fourth and final playoff spot. The home team got a big assist from Lloydminster, who beat Wheatsheaf 10-7, but the Abby squad couldn’t complete its half of the equation and was sent home early.
