Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Jon Molson

Top: OUT AT TWO - Cody Woodman, Casa Loma's second baseman, tags out Roadhouse's Cory Adams as he attempts to steal second Thursday in the Whitehorse Fastball League. Bottom: NOT IN TIME -Roadhouse's Mike Tuton attempts to make a play in Sunday's Whitehorse Fastball League championship game against Casa Loma.

Pirates sink Jays in Whitehorse Fastball League final

Half an inning was all that the Casa Loma Jays needed to make it two straight come-from-behind wins in the Whitehorse Fastball League.

By Jon Molson on August 10, 2009

Half an inning was all that the Casa Loma Jays needed to make it two straight come-from-behind wins in the Whitehorse Fastball League.

However, instead of back-to-back celebrations it ended with a 10-9 championship win for the Roadhouse Pirates Sunday at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

The Pirates captured the league title after Matt Thomson hit a clutch two-RBI single with the bases loaded.

"Winning is one thing, but when you find yourself in a game like this, to come out on top, down a run in the bottom of the last inning, I really don't know how else you would want it to play out," said Roadhouse player Mike Tuton.

"They (Casa Loma) just wouldn't go away. They had a tough battle in a game to get to this one, so we knew they would be running on that emotion."

Casa Loma's first game on Sunday was against the Chilkoot Steel Oldtimers. The Oldtimers got off to a roaring start, driving in five runs on 11 hits in the opening inning.

It could have been even worse for the Jays, if it hadn't been for a timely strikeout by pitcher Matt "Hard Arm" King to end the inning with three Chilkoot Steel players on base.

The Jays got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Casa Loma drove in two runs and then added two more in the third inning.

Stellar pitching from King shutout Chilkoot Steel for a fourth straight inning, before Casa Loma tied it up in the fifth.

The Oldtimers final ended their scoreless drought in the sixth inning, restoring a one-run lead, however Casa Loma weren't about to let the game slip away. The team tied it up in the final inning and then won it on a hit into a gap in the outfield by Josh Clark.

The final score was 7-6 and qualified the Jays for a championship game against Roadhouse.

In the final, Roadhouse didn't waste any time showing why they finished as the top team in the regular season. With a runner on first, Matt Thomson tripled over the head of Casa Loma's left-fielder.

A grounder by Jeff Frizzell brought Thomson home for a 2-0 lead. However that was all they would get and with one out already, King struck out the next two hitters.

Both went down swinging.

Clark tripled in the second and eventually scored on a wild pitch, cutting his team's deficit in half.

King showed some more brilliance in the third, striking out three batters. The final out came with the bases loaded.

Casa Loma rewarded their pitcher by tying up the game 2-2 in the top half of the third.

Nothing was decided in the third, but the fourth inning proved to be eventful. With two outs, Roadhouse went to work, batting in four more runs. Cory Adams had two RBIs.

Needing a big inning, players on Casa Loma delivered, scoring three runs in the fifth, but once again Roadhouse wasn't about to let them back in the game.

The team drove in two more runs on a pitcher versus pitcher duel between King and Frizzell in the bottom half. Frizzell's blooper into the outfield scored both runs.

As a result of an hour and half game time limit, the sixth inning was called as the last.

With one out and the bases loaded, Casa Loma scored one run on a wild pitch and then Danny Johnson doubled to bring in two more. Another wild pitch advanced Johnson to third and he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to give his team its first lead of the game.

An infield pop out ended the inning for Casa Loma.

Desperate for at least one run, Roadhouse got back on the bats in the bottom of the sixth. The team's first batter was a hit by a pitch.

"We'll take that," a player yelled from the dugout.

The team showed some small ball skills, singling its next batter, before Logan Freese laid down the perfect bunt that loaded up the bases.

King made a nice play to keep his team on top, fielding a choppy grounder and then firing it home to get the first out of the inning.

However, the next batter, Thomson, drove a liner into the outfield and won the game for his team.

Both teams are making the trip to Dawson for the annual Discovery Day fastball tournament this coming weekend and are looking forward to a potential re-match.

"The game had a lot of emotion in it from both sides of the benches, there were a few questionable calls out there, a few questionable plays and guys got fired up," said Tuton.

"I think that's where the rivalry builds, when you have games like this that are full of emotion and have everything on the line and goes right down to the wire, that's what starts it.

"This is just a warm up, these guys will be anxious to meet us again in Dawson."

Cody Woodman, Casa Loma's second baseman, was pleased about his team battling back in both games.

"They were great games," he said. "There was nothing we could do, at least we showed some heart in there, coming back."

He gave King a lot of credit for Casa Loma's success.

"Matty is our everything," Woodman said. "If we didn't have Matt, we don't have anything, Matt does everything, he hits the ball real well and is the best pitcher in the league in my books."

Woodman said he would love another shot at Roadhouse this weekend.

"They were a good team to start with and they just improved, but we'll be looking forward to Dawson though," he said. "I would love a re-match, no doubt, so hopefully we can make that happen, we'll see."

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