An up-and-coming Yukon slo-pitch team will represent the territory at nationals this season.

A young men’s team known as the Marlins used the long ball to hammer the P&M Recycling Guns 19-8 in the championship final of the qualifying tournament Saturday night at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

The 2015 Senior Men’s Canadian Slo-Pitch Championship will be hosted in Dorchester, Ont., Aug. 9 to 15.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Marlins captain Robin Smith, who hit a no-doubt grand slam in the fifth inning that put the game out of reach.

“Coming into the tournament, we didn’t expect to be the guys, but we just knew we would play good defence and were just hoping our batting would come together.

“We got hot at the right time.”

After a bases-loaded walk to Mike Arnold in the fifth saw Brett Roulston cross the plate, Guns pitcher Brian “Big Country” White was relieved by catcher Aaron France.

The change made no difference, however, as the 21-year-old Smith sent a charge into France’s first offering, sending it over the outfield wall to spot the Marlins a 15-5 lead.

Smith’s grand slam wasn’t the only long ball for the Marlins. Andrew Schmidt, Dakota Organ, Mike Wintemute and Brett Roulston also hit balls out of the park in the final.

Organ nearly went deep a second time in the fourth, but the ball hit the top of the chainlink fence in right centre and dropped back onto the field.

Organ, who had already begun retreating to the dugout, was called out for leaving the basepath.

The men’s final featured several changes in gameplay meant to speed up the contest. For example, each batter started with a ball and a strike against him, and batters did not need to run the bases following home runs.

The Marlins also mixed in some brilliant outfield defence, with Arnold making two diving stabs in right centre to get his team out of jams.

“Whoever watched me this weekend knows that my bat wasn’t in the game,” the 19-year-old said. “I figured if my batting’s not going the way it should be, then I might as well make up for it in the field. ... We just kind of said: ‘Lay out for everything. Nothing hits the ground.’”

After dropping their first game of the tournament to Dave’s Cleaning Crew Friday night, the Marlins rebounded to beat the Jay Hawks, setting up a semifinal rematch with Dave’s Cleaning, who had lost their matchup with the Guns on a bases-loaded walk.

The Marlins rebounded to beat Dave’s Cleaning 33-22 Saturday afternoon for a chance to face the Guns in the men’s final.

The Marlins roster includes Arnold, Rob Borud, Evan Campbell, Kane Dawe, Organ, Theo Richards, Roulston, Schmidt, Smith, and both Ian and Mike Wintemute.

“A lot of us have played together in Dustball the past three, four years,” Smith explained. “We don’t really have a sponsor, so we kind of swap names all the time. We kind of figured it out this tournament.

“Everyone just hustles on defence – that’s the biggest thing for us.”

The shortstop said his team may have finally found its name – calling the Marlins moniker “lucky.”

“Nobody thought we were going to win this,” added Arnold. “It’s huge. It hasn’t sunk in yet. But to beat one of the most respected teams in Whitehorse – the Guns – it says a lot to the team. We didn’t expect this, but here we are.”

The Guns have competed at the slo-pitch nationals the past two seasons in the C division, and captain Mike Tuton acknowledged the Yukon teams will be in tough at the A level.

And yet despite dropping Saturday’s final after losing last year’s Dustball A final for the first time in five years, the 38-year-old Tuton doesn’t believe the Guns are done yet.

“I know the rest of the teams are praying on it, but I think we made a couple moves to get younger,” said the first baseman. “We’re not upset that we’re not going (to nationals).”

The Guns were missing regular centre fielder Matt Kremer and shortstop Craig Claggett, but Tuton said the Marlins won fair and square.

“I’m not going to make excuses. They played well. I don’t think we gave up too many outs. They just went through the lineup and hit the ball.”

A total of five men’s teams and two women’s teams vied for their respective 2015 nationals berths over the weekend.

The local playdowns for the 2016 slo-pitch nationals, which will be held in the Yukon capital, are scheduled for July 31 to Aug. 2.

In women’s action, the Fountain Tire Mudders swept the Nuway Ball Crushers two games to none to qualify for nationals. See tomorrow’s newspaper for details.