Have trucks, will travel.
That's what K&D Contracting of Fort McPherson did as they made the trip to Aklavik for one of the last slopitch tournaments of the season and it was a success.
The co-ed squad won the Aklavik Recreation Committee Slow Pitch Tournament thanks to their win over the Barrypickers of Inuvik in the final. It was a bit of revenge for the Fort McPherson squad as they avenged their loss to the same team in the round-robin.
“We played well but we had one bad inning and that's how they beat us the first time,” said Joyce Blake, K&D's captain.
It was the only loss K&D had in the tournament as they beat everyone else along the way to claim victory and the $1,000 first prize.
“It helped pay for our gas money,” giggled Blake.
Three teams from Aklavik joined in with the outfits from Inuvik and Fort McPherson to do battle and Blake said she was surprised with how well the Aklavik squads played.
“They were really competitive,” she said. “We expected the three teams to be weaker because we were told they didn't play any league ball, just a bit of pick-up over the summer. But they surprised us with how good they were.”
In the final, K&D came out the stronger of the two teams. They put up eight runs in the top of the first to throw down the gauntlet. The only problem was the Barrypickers picked up said gauntlet and roared back to eventually tie the game at 9-9.
“I was worried that all the hard work we did was for nothing,” said Blake.
K&D managed to settle down and scored some insurance runs to run out winners.
Dale Blake was the star of the show for K&D as he hit eight home runs over the course of the tournament.
The trip almost didn't happen as the travel plans were still up in the air days before the tournament was set to begin. The team's sponsor became their sponsor after they helped out with paying for gas, which made the decision to go easier for Blake.
“The teams had to have at least one boy and one girl that were 15 years old and the kids who were on our team were asking if I was going,” she said. “The company chipped in some money and the kids were all excited when I told them we were going.”
She was also full of praise for how the tournament itself was run by the committee.
“It's been years since I've played there but it was well-organized,” she said. “The recreation committee paid for players to have a burger or a smokie from the food stand all weekend and that was a big help. Teams didn't have to worry about getting food.”