麻豆社区

The Whitehorse Dental Donkeys co-ed season came to a close when they beat Complete Concrete Athletics to secure the Division 1 title this season.

In front of a small crowd at the Pepsi Softball Centre on鈥圱hursday, the Donkeys scored 12 to Athletics鈥� six.

鈥淭he Donkeys are here to play every time so if you鈥檙e flat-footed for an inning or two, they鈥檙e going to make you pay for it,鈥� said Athletics team captain, Brett Green.

In the six-team strong Division 1, the players meet each other often during the season.

The last time the Donkeys and Athletics faced off was on July 19 as they fought for a semifinal berth. It was a close, high scoring game, but the Donkeys took the win and the Athletics were bumped to the losing side of the bracket.

On Tuesday they had to fight hard for their ticket to the finals, first against the Bears, then against Jats, who won the most games in the regular season.

鈥淚t was a struggle,鈥� said Green. But the Athletics persevered through the double-header, finally beating the Jats, which they had struggled to do all season. 鈥淭hat one definitely meant a bit to us to finally get that off our back.鈥�

The first inning started slow, with only the Donkeys鈥� Sheldon King getting a run on the board.

The Athletics were again, unable to put anything up in the top of the second.

But the Donkeys, with two outs had a wave of runs. Susan and Bill Whitty ran in to home off a Sheldon King hit to the outfield. Annette King came in next, followed by Sheldon King, Terri Cairns and Robin Smith.

The Athletics responded in the third, as James Semaschuk hit a huge homer, clearing the newly installed netting, with two runners on the bases.

鈥淚t was one [pitch] where you knew it was going out right after you let it go off your hand,鈥� said Donkeys pitcher Ryan Stickel.

With two outs, the Donkeys鈥� Susan Whitty ran one run in.

The Donkeys took advantage of the Athletics in the fourth, hitting through the holes to post four more from Robin Smith, Jaime Whitty, Arlo O鈥橰iordan and Valerie Ireland.

The fifth was blanked by both teams, with quick outs.

Semaschuk scored one more in the sixth and the Athletics were quick to get the Donkeys out.

Green and Chad Curlew scored the last two runs for the Athletics in the seventh.

鈥淭hey were putting them on the grass every time they were finding the gaps; they were blooping them over second, blooping them over short, so it鈥檚 tough to defend against those ones,鈥� said Green. 鈥淏ut anything we could even have a chance to get, I think we got those ones.鈥�

Athletics pitcher Stickel, who played for the Donkeys for the first time this season after moving to Whitehorse from Fort St. John, attributed his team鈥檚 success to their chemistry.

鈥淓verybody stays pretty loose when we play together,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he team played great behind me.鈥�

Many of the players on both teams will be suiting up to play for one of the four Yukon teams playing in next month鈥檚 Canadian Softball National Championships.

The P & M Recycling Guns open play as Team Yukon at 10 a.m. on Aug. 7 against the B.C. Rockies. The host team, Dave鈥檚 Cleaning Crew kicks off their tournament the same day at 6 p.m. against the Inuvik Native Yankees.

On the ladies鈥� side, The Yukon Titans, as Team Yukon, square off against the Manitoba Wild on Aug. 9 at 10:45 a.m. while the host team, the Sista鈥檚, play the B.C. Adrenaline at 2:30 p.m.