Lumber Kings deflect B.C. Arrows

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Only true fast pitch baseball fans would stick around until 1 a.m. to watch the finals of a tournament.

But stick around they did for the 20th annual National Indian Athletic Association Men's and Women's Fastball Championship final games, held in Invemere, B.C. Aug. 21.

A total of 15 womens and 23 mens teams gathered in the East Kootenay tourist centre to vie for the North American championship, played Aug. 19-21.

The host team was none other than the NIAA dynasty BC Arrows, playing in their final tournament - after 16 years and eight NIAA titles.

The Arrows lost their footing in the early going, losing a close game to a hot squad from Dresslerville, Nev. The loss forced the defending champion Arrows to take the hard road toward their ninth and final title.

Yet a talented young team from Prince George, the reigning Canadian Champs, had other plans for the elder statesmen. Coming into the finals, the Arrows had to defeat the Prince George Lumber Kings twice.

In game one, played before an enthusiastic, noisy crowd of about 1,200, the Arrows defense was in its usual stingy form and bullet tossing left-handed pitcher Terry Bone stymied Lumber King hitters.

Thanks to a fifth inning Randy Martin two run homer, the Arrows piled up a 3-0 lead.

The Kings refused to die and battled back to make it 3-2 but that was as far as they got. And the Arrows were one step away from their ninth title.

Game two was another pitching battle, this time between Arrows' Brad Rinquette and Prince George's Gord Gervais.

The Lumber King's found a way around Rinquette in the bottom of the fourth inning and scored two runs off a deep shot to the centre field and an Arrows overthrow to third base.

They then returned to tight defense, leading to the bottom of the seventh inning and the Arrows last at bat.

Before Arrow first baseman Darrell Jacques put the batting helmet on, the team gathered around general manager/right fielder Dean Martin and rallied to the cry, "It's never over."

Jacques stepped to the plate and nailed a line drive to Prince George third baseman Joey Potskin.

Joe Jack was up next and the stalky catcher drilled a grounder to short stop Marty Laing who made a phenomenal dive, knocking the ball down. He managed to get the ball to first to beat Jack and nail down the second out.

The final Arrows batter dribbled a shot to Gervais who tagged the runner and ended the Arrows careers.

Emotional moment

The moment was obviously an emotional one for the Arrows, calling it quits after such a long time together, but coach and Shuswap Band Chief Paul Sam found justice in the loss.

"It looks like they're living after us," he said of Prince George's skilled young team. "We gave it our best but we just ran out of steam."

Prince George coach Grant Williams was equally as gracious in the victory.

"They're a good ball club. These kids can learn an awful lots from this team," he said of the Arrows, whose average age equals 36 - compared to the Lumber Kings average age of about 23.

Arrows GM Dean Martin assessed his team's try for a ninth and final NIAA title

as one "for a storybook ending but it just didn't turn out that way."

He praised the squad for keeping their intensity during the tourney, in which they played 10 games after losing to Dresslerville.

"The guys took it on a positive stride," he said, explaining they viewed the B-route as a chance to play a few more games before hanging up the cleats.

The team could have folded and cruised through the tourney having fun and socializing.

"But that's not the character of this team and it never has been and that's why we've been so successful," said Martin.