After wildfire smoke and poor air quality forced its postponement almost a month, Williams Lake Slo-Pitch League players celebrated the season with the annual Year End Tournament Sept. 14-16 at the Esler Sports Complex.
And while conditions were better than when it was cancelled, this time, players were forced to battle the elements over three days of play.
“It was cold and it was really wet,” said WLSPL president Linda Barbondy, but added players didn’t let that get their spirits down.
“Everybody was happy, and everybody wanted to play ball and was happy to be up there still playing.”
Eighteen teams began the tournament with a three-game round robin with games beginning Friday evening and resuming Saturday morning based on seedings from the league’s regular season. From there, teams were placed into A, B, C and D divisions based on their round robin records in a double knockout format.
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The A Division championship saw two perennial championship contenders — the Rowdies and the Rotten Eggs — square off.
The Rowdies, after losing to the Rotten eggs in the winner’s semifinal, edge the Rookies to earn their spot on the final.
And there, in what turned out to be another barn burner, the Rowdies battled from a one-run deficit in the seventh inning to upend the Rotten Eggs 13-10 in the final.
“We were up 9-5 in the fourth inning, then we gave up five runs in the sixth and they went up 10-9,” Barbondy said.
“It was one of those back and forth games.”
In the seventh, however, the Rowdies’ David Johnny, Darren Sanford, Barbondy and Jhed Gerrior each scored in the 13-10 victory.
Barbondy said the Rowdies’ pitcher, Nick Surette, had an excellent game, as did outfielder Cody Wakefield.
“We just played as a team,” she said. “We didn’t give up when we got down.”
The Rookies, meanwhile, settled for third place in the division.
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In the B Division final it was the Hellraisers defeating Cowboys & NDNZ 9-7 for the title.
“They Hellriasers played really well this weekend,” Barbondy said of the team.
The C Division champions were the Broke Millionaires, who knocked off Puff Puff Smash 21-9 in the championship.
And in the D Division, it was Poppin’ A Homer over Powerless, 20-5.
While the tournament puts a wrap on the competitive season for the slo-pitch league, Barbondy said there are still projects on the go to be completed before the snow flies.
“We’ve got a few things on the go for next year,” Barbondy said. “Hopefully we’ll be redoing the backstops on fields two and three before it snow.
“And for next year we’re looking at starting work on infield and outfield upgrades, and getting that going.”
Prizes from the WLSPL Year End Tournament will be give out in the coming weeks, Barbondy added.
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