The Guns are returning home from the national C division slo-pitch championships in Calgary without any hardware but greater success than last year.

Co-coach and first baseman Michael Tuton said in a telephone interview Tuesday that although the Whitehorse club failed to reach the medal round, their reputation at the championships has grown in stature.

“This year I noticed teams knew who we were,” Tuton said while still down south. “They were not looking forward to playing us as much as in the past.”

On the other hand, the co-coach added, the Guns had a tough time maintaining consistency at the plate, almost as though it was a tale of two teams.

They finished their round robin Saturday with three wins and one loss, good enough to finish second in the division. The Guns headed into Sunday’s preliminary playoff round with two lives, but dropped two of their three games that day, the first baseman said.

The Guns finished this year’s tournament with one more than last year.

One of the teams they lost to, the Bus Drivers from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, ended up winning the championship.

Tuton said losing two of the 14 players on Sunday because of prior commitments didn’t help, but every year the team learns something and the importance of going with 15 or 16 as the other teams do really sunk in this tournament.

Having that bench strength pays off, he said.

Nonetheless, the Guns pulled it together on their final day, and in one of the three games, played what the co-coach Tuton described as one of the best games he’s seen them play in a long time.

“We really got a sense of who we were, what we can be as a team.”

Tuton said for the first time, the Guns adopted the system used by many of the teams there: five infielders instead of four, and three outfielders instead of four.

It puts more pressure on the outfielders but everything worked out, and there’s always the option of switching back, he said.

Tuton said second baseman Sheldon King maintained his regular consistency as lead off hitter.

“He played really well,” said the co-coach. “He is one of the best lead-off batters I have played any ball game with.”

The squad also received solid performances on the pitching mound by Jeff Seaman and Brian (Big Country) White, he pointed out.

Tuton, however, was most thankful for bringing along rookie Gun Gibson Pearson, who was there as the fifth outfielder but ended up showing his stuff in the infield as well.

“He really exceeded what we were hoping to get out of him,” he said. “He played at second base and ended playing third base and made two incredible grabs at third.

“It bodes well for next year. Maybe they will call us the Young Guns again if we get a few more like Gibson.”