Friday Night Lights
One could argue that success in life is inextricably dependent on one’s ability to perform under pressure. Such is the maxim of baseball, which is a game assembled by the sum of individual, almost stand-alone, moments that hinge on an athlete’s ability to act. Hemingway (a huge baseball fan) once indirectly touched on this truism when he uttered the idiom “grace under pressure” which was a response, fittingly enough, to a question about the characteristic of guts. Taken together, the concepts shed light on the weight the game of baseball lends to individual performance thereby setting the stage for heroes and legends.
Under the lights of the big show on Friday night, the moxie of would-be ball diamond heroes found themselves dealing with pregame jitters as the crowds, lights and subtle hints of inebriation mixed wonderfully with dumps of adrenaline to concoct dizzying butterflies of anticipation.
The home opener saw ITP square off against the Saskatchewan Sluggers, a team who have returned to Nakusp after 20 years as part of their family reunion. Over 50 Saskatchewanites flooded into the campgrounds on Friday and proceeded to line the fences to watch the second and third generation ball players relive the glory played out in 1994.
“It’s amazing,” reflects Zac Wethal (ITP player and one of the driving forces behind the tournament). “Normally Nakusp fans outnumber anyone else, so it was a bit of a shock to look over at the outfield at a sea of blue shirts cheering for the Sluggers.”
The Friday night start was greeted with a sigh of relief from the organizers as the tournament got off to a “rocky start,” Wethal confesses. Issues with cancelling umpires, a last minute team replacement and the ramifications of the local water restrictions did not add up to a smooth start to the famous August Long Weekend tournament. Thanks to the dedication of the Nakusp Softball Society, backed by the sheer will and tenacity of the community, the tournament hit the bags on schedule.
Pool Play
Twenty teams, spanning three provinces, descended on Nakusp and engaged in a three-day marathon of sticks and balls. Four pools of five teams each played a round robin style pool play to determine playoff positions. The top team in each pool was awarded a buy into the quarterfinals, while the next top two teams had to wrestle out crossover games to punch their tickets to the next round.
Nakusp fielded three local teams: ITP, The Brew Jays and Déjà vu. Each team had their share of troubles and success; ITP finished their tournament with one win, one loss and a tie, while Déjà vu eked out a win and three losses. Brew Jays shouldered the pressure of carrying the hope of a local showing in the finals on their shoulders by advancing into the playoff bracket with a two win and two loss record, to play an early Monday morning playoff game against the Spokane Eagles.
Brew Jays Semi-Final
The playoff match started out rough for the Brew Jays who struggled to find their swagger through the residual haze and fell to an early four run deficit right off the hop. The slide turned into an avalanche in the second inning when the Eagles launched a ball over the orange fence for a decisive grand slam that racked the runs up to 8-0. The Eagles would bat in another four runs before the Brew Jays could put a stop to the inning’s onslaught. The fourth inning found the Brew Jays hopelessly behind 22 runs, but started to loosen up their game and rediscover some of the magic that had carried them into the playoffs. Taking the field, the Jays shook things up with a few position changes which warranted a sharp “Potsie to Richie” play. Infield Chris James, carried by his forward momentum, caught a grounder then back passed to Ryan Bateman on second base to make the tag out. However, one slick play does not win a baseball game, and the local hopes for a finals showing were crushed with a 22-0 defeat.
A New Hope
Or was there still one last chance to dance? With the Jay’s down and out, local fans turned their attention to pseudo-local team, The Big Kahuna, who advanced to the quarterfinals with a buy earned from their four wins in pool play.
Big Kahuna is comprised of players who started their softball careers at Nakusp Secondary School way back when they were known as The Youngin’s.
“We started playing our parents,” Big Kahuna baller Dana Weatherhead recounts. “Then when we started beating them as we got older, the name Youngin’s didn’t seem to fit anymore, so we changed it.” Big Kahuna have stuck together beyond graduation and have (mostly) migrated to Kelowna. Last year the team qualified for the Softball Nationals and subsequently could not attend the 2013 Nakusp Softball Tournament.
Squaring off against Shut up and Drink, Big Kahuna confidently rekindled the local hopes of a finals showing by decidedly advancing to the semi-finals with a big quarterfinal win. Gathering fans like a wave, the Big Kanhuna found itself surrounded by local support who cheered them on during their contest against PFM in the semifinals. However, the wave did not garner enough momentum to break through the solid game play of PFM, and the local hopes were unequivocally dashed when the wave broke then rolled back.
On the other side of the bracket, Creston Kokanee earned a buy into the quarterfinals with a four win record in pool play, then systematically dispatched Krush then the Browns in the semifinals to punch their ticket for the final match against PFM.
FINALS
Cracks of threatening thunder rang out along with the seven minute warning to game time as PFM in their and Creston Kokanee prepared to do battle for the $1500 cash pot and all the bragging rights for the long weekend.
John Craft deftly stepped up to act as umpire for the finals with assistance from Riley Weatherhead in the infield. Charles Granewall took up his usual position in the commentator’s booth behind home plate to call the game and provide color as well as music.
Creston struck first blood with a quick 3-1 lead at the end of the first inning and managed to grow their equity to a seemingly comfortable 5-2 until several errors in the third inning caused a swing in the match and PFM muscled out the lead, 7-5. Trading control of the game back and forth, both teams jockeyed until the top of the sixth provided Creston a unique opportunity to pull away by stepping up to bat after shutting down PFM hitting inning. With an 11-9 lead, Creston had the opportunity to rack up the runs, but squandered their chance with two overzealous single run home run hits. PFM attempted to capitalize on the opportunity to make up the four run deficit and began to bridge the gap with two runs batted in with a calculated home run hit. Creston could not find the holes in top of the seventh and handed the win opportunity back over to PFM with the score at 13-11 for Creston. PFM fought hard spending two outs to put runners on second and third base and pinned their tournament hopes on the next batter. A home run would add up to a win, but the PFM batter spun off a pop-fly which was easily caught by the Creston infield for PFM’s third out and the tournament win.
The Nakusp Softball Society would like to thank everyone for making the weekend a success. They would also like to specifically recognize the contributions of Home Hardware, Arrow Lakes Ready Mix, Dave Hanson Electrical, Overwaitea Foods, the Fire Department, the RCMP and The Hut. See you again next year.