LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - When the dust settled on the field after a weekend of slo-pitch action, the Fort Smith Kinache walked away with the title for the 2008 Mixed Territorial Slo-Pitch Championship.

The championship, which was held in Fort Simpson from July 12 to 13, drew in Fort Smith along with three teams from the village and one from Hay River. On Saturday the teams competed in round-robin play.

Foster Browning, preparing to hit the ball over the fence, was one of the members of the winning Fort Smith Kinache team at the NWT Mixed Territorial Slo-Pitch Championship. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

At the end of the day Fort Smith was ranked first followed by the Sub Arctic Eagles in second, Hay River in third, Rowe's Construction in fourth and the Village People in fifth.

Sunday, four final games determined the winners.

Hay River and Rowe's Construction met on the diamond that morning to see who would make it to the semi-finals. At the end of the sixth inning, both teams were neck and neck, tied at 16 runs. In a final push Rowe's took another seven runs to win the game 23-16.

Rowe's went on to play the Sub Arctic Eagles in the semi-finals. This was the Eagles' second chance to make it to the finals. Earlier in the morning they suffered a heavy loss of 20-1 to Fort Smith.

Early in the semi-final game when they were up 10-1 it looked like a sure win for the Eagles.

The outcome became less certain in the fifth inning when Rowe's came back to tie the score.

However, after keeping the score close in the final innings, Rowe's lost the game 14-13 allowing the Eagles to advance to the finals.

In the finals Fort Smith showed the power they'd been displaying all weekend by running up the score against the Eagles 11-4 by the end of the fourth inning.

The game ended in the seventh inning with Fort Smith winning 15-4 to take the championship title.

After a weekend of going undefeated, Brian Dyck, a member of the Fort Smith Kinache, said the team just played well together.

"Everything just clicked and fell into place," Dyck said.

The team had a lot of solid hits including home runs and base runs when they were needed, he said.

"Everyone's a strong hitter on the team," said Dyck.

Dyck said credit also needed to be given to Theresa Bourke who positioned people in the batting orders and in the field. He said all 13 members of the team enjoyed playing in the championship in the village.

"Ball's always good in Fort Simpson," said Dyck.

Despite their loss in the finals, Dave Magarey, a member of the Sub Arctic Eagles, was still upbeat about the championship.

Throughout the weekend all the teams showed good sportsmanship, said Magarey. Most players were there to have fun so wins and losses were celebrated equally, he said.

The Eagles improved in both their batting and fielding as a team during the weekend, said Magarey.

Outstanding performances came from Kenny Harrison who's a fast runner and made good catches, said Magarey, as well as MaryRose Denethlon.

"Her batting was awesome," he said.

Magarey also gave credit to Dan Deschamps, the village's recreation director, for organizing the championship.