Don't be fooled by the 9-3 score.

The final game of the Western Canadian Masters Men's Fastpitch Championship, which was held in Whitehorse this past weekend, was a lot closer than first glance at the scoreboard might have you believe and a lot more exciting.

The second game of the tie-breaking championship doubleheader featured a pitcher's duel for the first six innings, with both the defending-champion Andre's Masters from Kelowna and the Norland Dental Masters of Saskatoon making comebacks at one point.

It was 1-0 for Norland through four innings and 3-1 for Andre's through six before the dental crew finally found the offence they're well known for and broke it open in the top of the seventh.

All Norland pitcher Rob Scheller had to do when he came out in the bottom of the inning was get three more outs and his team would walk away the new western masters champions. He proved up to the task, as the game ended 9-3 for the team from Saskatoon.

'I haven't thrown six innings all year,' smiled Scheller, who was brought to the championship to be a closer, following the victory. 'It's usually two or three at the most because of injuries I've had. But I told them if they were going to go with me, I would be ready.'

Scheller, who also plays fastball in a league in the United States, almost lost his sight to a disease previously and just prior to the championships underwent tests for a suspected tumor on his brain.

Doctors told him he couldn't ride the bus to Whitehorse with the rest of his teammates a 31-hour straight trip� but he decided to come play anyway and paid for a flight to be here. He wore a special pitching helmet with a face mask in order to protect himself.

As he stood outside the ball park following the championship victory, he insisted it was all well worth it.

'This is what it's all about. That's why you play.

'Everybody paid their own way to get up here.'

Norland lost the first game of the doubleheader 7-3, thanks in part to Andre's pitcher Kevin Sutherland, and it looked like they may have been headed for a similar fate as the game started winding down Sunday afternoon.

But Sutherland, who was pitching his third game in one day, finally started to show his fatigue. He lasted 19 1/2 straight innings before he was pulled in the seventh and walked away with the MVP award for the elimination round.

'It's hard to swallow, going in (to the seventh) with a two-run lead,' said Sutherland. 'I really didn't feel we were going to lose. I still felt I had enough in me.'

Scheller was just one of many people both players and spectators who were amazed at the effort put forth by Sutherland, even in a losing cause. Norland, he said, has a deep lineup full of ex-national team players.

'For him to pitch like he did and keep them in it as long as he did ... I would have bet everything I owned that would have never happened.

'People don't realize how good of a job he just did.'

Norland coach Roger Malmgren agreed Andre's was certainly the toughest competition his team faced throughout the tournaments, but said his team never gave up.

'The boys really came out all fired up in the seventh. They said never die, it's never over,' said Malmgren, adding he never considered pulling Scheller for another pitcher after Andre's went ahead.

'We said if we were going to lose, we were going to lose with the best.'

Instead, they headed back to Saskatchewan Sunday evening the 2006 Western Canadian Masters Men's Fastpitch champions. And, said Malmgren, they left with fond memories of Whitehorse.

'It's an excellent town, nice facilities. The pitching mounds left a little to be desired, but hey, the hosts were just great to us. I can't say enough about George (Arcand, executive director of Softball Yukon) and Jean (Poulin, program co-ordinator at Softball Yukon).'

Asked about the issues with the pitching mound, Arcand said the new infields at the Pepsi Softball Centre are soft, so the material wasn't holding as tight as the players would have liked. If a pitcher's landing foot moves, it throws his whole body off and the ball won't go where he wants it to.

'So we were trying to stabilize the soil,' explained Arcand. 'If we were to do fastpitch again, we know now what we would need to change.

'The outfield, a lot of guys said it was the best they'd played on all year.'

As for the Yukon teams, Kal Tire and the Roadhouse, Arcand said they showed quite well, despite the fact they lost all four of their games against the Outside teams. The Roadhouse beat Kal Tire in their matchup against each other.

'They hadn't played fastpitch competitively in a long time and their first game, you could see that. But by the third and fourth game, the were doing very well.

'One of the fellows who was up here was playing in his 70th game this year. Guys in the Yukon are lucky if they play four or five.'

Overall, Softball Yukon and the players involved are hailing the championship as a success. It may have been hampered by rain Friday and Saturday, but the weather cleared up for the final and Arcand was pleased with the fan turnout over the weekend.

'The final was very exciting from a fan's point of view. I saw people in the park over the weekend that I haven't seen there for years. They came out because they heard fastpitch was back.'

There has been talk about starting up a new fastpitch league in the Yukon, but Arcand said at this point, it's just talk. There's certainly interest, he said, but now it will come down to whether or not there's enough interest for someone to put in all the hard work and dedication that would be required.

The following were the team and individual awards handed out Sunday at the Western Canadian Masters Men's Fastpitch Championship:

Gold Norland Dental Masters, Saskatoon, SK;

Silver Andre's Masters, Kelowna, BC;

Bronze NE Alberta Selects,

Edgerton, AB;

Top Pitcher Don Cunningham, High Prairie Playboys;

Top Batter Dale Wagner, High Prairie Playboys;

MVP of Qualifying Round Blaine Kunkel, Norland Dental Masters;

MVP of Elimination Round Kevin Sutherland, Andre's Masters.

Thursday's Results

NE Alberta Selects 11,

Roadhouse Pirates 0

Andre's Masters 7,

High Prairie Playboys 1

Norland Dental Masters 24,

Kal Tire 2

Andre's Masters 10,

NE Alberta Slects 8

High Prairie Playboys 7, Kal Tire 2

Norland Dental Masters 14,

Roadhouse Pirates 0

Friday's Results

Andre's Masters 7, Kal Tire 0

Norland Dental Masters 10,

NE Alberta Selects 5

High Prairie Playboys 16,

Roadhouse Pirates 2

Norland Dental Masters 8,

Andre's Masters 6

High Prairie Playboys 16,

NE Alberta Selects 2

Roadhouse Pirates 7, Kal Tire 5

Saturday's Results

Norland Dental Masters 11,

High Prairie Playboys 3

NE Alberta Selects 7, Kal Tire 0

Andre's Masters 10,

Roadhouse Pirates 0

Norland Dental Masters 8,

Andre's Masters 4

High Prairie Playboys 6,

NE Alberta Selects 5

Sunday's Results

Andre's Masters 14,

NE Alberta Selects 2

Andre's Masters 7,

Norland Dental Masters 3

Andre's Masters 9,

Norland Dental Masters 3