Dreamers scoop fastball championship

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The baseball players chanted a victory song as they lined up for their group picture after capturing the 1994 All-Native Canadian Fastball Championship.

"Is the dream still alive? Is the dream still alive?"

No doubt about it. The Dream Team from British Columbia won the title with a mix of veterans from the B.C. Arrows - which captured six Canadian all-Native titles in the past two decades - some fresh blood and the best pitcher in the world.

The Invermere-based team edged Ochapowace from Broadview, Sask. 1-0 in an extra inning at Spruce City Stadium in Prince George, B.C. late Sunday night, July 31.

The Dream Team's Darren Zack considered the best fastball pitcher in the league - and Joey Basaraba from Ochapowace both pitched seven innings of one-hit balls, setting up the extra inning with a base runner on second on the international run rule.

The Dream Team got their break when a pickoff throw to second hit base-runner Merv Fontaine's foot in the bottom of the eighth and careened off into centre field allowing him to sprint home.

"It's terrific," said 46-year-old Oggie Jack, over the roar of his celebrating teammates.

The last time Jack and many of the veterans on the team won a Canadian all-Native title was in 1987 as The Arrows.

"Everybody likes to plan something and hope it turns out," he added. "Well, you know, it's like making a cake, you put the ingredients in and hope it turns out. That's the way it turned out, and it turned out beautiful."

"I mean, it's an ugly way to win it. It's not so beautiful, but hey, a win's a win."

"It's a great feeling that's for sure," said 20-year-old Randy Martin, who's father coached the Arrows for many years,. "Especially coming back and winning a championship after the old man retired.

"He thought it was over, and I think that's why he retired to begin with," said Martin.

The Dream Team had swept through to the final undefeated, dispatching Flying Dust from Meadow Lake, Sask. 7-0, Amik from Winnipeg, Man. 5-0, Pelican Rapids from west-central Manitoba 2-1, the defending champion Prince George Lumber Kings 6-1 and Lasso from Lac La Biche, Alta. 3-0.

They marched to the title behind the pitching prowess of Zack and some timely longball hitting. The International Softball Congress North American championship Toronto Gators pitcher won four games. Zack struck out 67 over 33 innings and allowed only one run on seven hits. Not surprisingly, he was named the top-pitcher of the tournament.

"It was a lot tougher than I thought, man, I'll tell you," said a tired Zack. "They got a heck of a team over here (Ochapowace), who lost on a fluky play."

And Zack had nothing but praise for Basaraba.

"He threw the ball. He threw it really, really good. He's an excellent thrower. All the best to Joe Basaraba and his team, I'll tell you."

And despite Zack's world-class pitching, it was the incredible performance of Basaraba that wowed the 1,000-plus crowd at the final.

Basaraba pitched five back-to-back games on Monday as Ochapowace came through the loser's bracket of the 32-team, four-day, double-knockout tournament.

Ochapowace's 4-2 loss to Lasso from Lac La Biche, Alta. on Sunday dropped them to the B-side where they downed the Prince George Native Friendship Flyers 4-3, the Alexander Tee Pee Crawlers from Alberta 3-0, the Prince George Lumber Kings 6-1, Pelican Rapid from Manitoba 7-2 and Lasso 1-0 to advance to the final.

Basaraba struck out 87 over 47 1/3 innings and was named the tournament's MVP.

Even in the eighth inning of the final, after more than 10 hours of pitching, he showed little sign of slowing down.

And the show-stopping pitcher was clearly disappointed with the way the game ended.

"I would have been happy with a hit - let them get a hit," Basaraba said quietly after the game. "(But) we never thought we were going to come this far. We've got nothing to be ashamed of. They got the best pitcher. Darren Zack, he's number one."

The Dream Team picked up $,000 and the right to host next year's tournament as the first-place finishers. Runners-up Ochapowace took home $4,000, third-place Lasso $2,000 and fourth-place Pelican Rapids $1,000.