The 100 Mile Men’s Fastball League started its two-week playoff round on July 15, and all playoff games start at 6:30 p.m. (except the July 19 semifinals) at Lumberman’s Park on Airport Road next to the South Cariboo Rec. Centre.
Regular season champs Jakes Pub hosted second-place finishers Exeter Sporting Goods on July 15 and Jakes won 15-9.
Thanks to the victory, Jakes advanced directly to the best-of-three playoff finals, while Exeter will take on the league’s fifth-place Sanford Dillman Hornets tonight (July 17).
The winner of this contest will go up against third-place Red Rock Avengers, which knocked off the fourth-place Shuswap Defenders 9-3 on July 16.
Red Rock now awaits the winner of the today's (July 17) game to see which team it will battle in the semifinals on July 19, starting at 5:30 p.m.
The winner of the July 19 game advances to the best-of-three championship finals against Jakes Pub, which will be played on July 22, 23 and 25 if necessary. These contests will also be held at Lumberman’s Park and start at 6:30 p.m.
The playoffs are the culmination of an interesting and entertaining men’s fastball season, which saw the league battle with the weatherman to get the games completed and teams playing through the wind, rain and cold on several occasions.
It also saw the end of the Bantam team, but some of last year’s Bantams joined the other teams and were very competitive, as they got used to the faster pitching. Their confidence grew at the season wore on, and hopefully they will be the core group that carries men’s fastball into the future.
The Shuswap Defenders had trouble fielding a team throughout the latter part of the season, but players from other league teams came to the rescue. Rather than forcing forfeiture, opposing players volunteered to play for the Defenders.
Some players even showed up ready to play for the Defenders just in case when their teams weren’t playing.
Sportsmanship wasn’t the only thing that flourished this year, as the stands were filled with fans for most of the games – even the games that turned into rainouts drew spectators.
During the regular season, the fans saw some great ball; it can only get better in the playoffs.