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INUVIK
The action was fast and furious at the Inuvik Slo-pitch Association's Canada Day Tournament.

Tina Bussetto of the Northwind slo-pitch team drives in a run with this hit. The team would place second in the tournament. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Nine teams signed up for the hotly-contested event, which ended in two wildly entertaining games between the Northwind team and Amirco Athletics.

The Northwind team sent the game into a tie-breaking final at 10 p.m. July 1 with a rousing extra-innings win that was a cross between explosive offence and crafty, clutch pitching and defence.

Hundreds of people took in the games that began June 28 at the baseball diamond behind the Capital Suites.

Sponsored by the Inuvik Benchwarmers women's team, the tournament was a rousing success from start to finish.

Official results weren't immediately available, including the scores, but unofficial results had the Amirco team taking the title in a game that was still hard fought past 11 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Pat Tingmiak's team, the Yankees, was eliminated by the Rockies in another hard-fought game.

He was disappointed with the result, but said the tournament was "great fun."

Many of the teams were made up primarily of members of Inuvik league teams with reinforcements recruited for the tournament, Natasha Kulikowski said.

Justin Simms was the coach of the Rockies team. Ordinarily a player, he was taking the off-field role while he rehabilitated a broken ankle.

"I'm taking the whole season off," he said. "It's still sore yet. I had three hairline fractures."

That's given him a different perspective on the game, he said.

"It's been an excellent tournament so far, with a great turnout. It's good to see so many teams."

One tourney to go

This was the second of three tournaments the association operates during the summer, Simms said. The first was the men's and women's tournament that were held two weeks ago.

The Benchwarmers dominated that tournament, going undefeated. The team will also host the 2013 Women's Territorials August 9 to 11, although the date hasn't been set yet.

In early August, the team members will travel to Kelowna, British Columbia, to compete in the Slo-Pitch Nationals.

Simms coaches the Benchwarmers team, which he said "won in Yellowknife last year."

He said, rather proudly, that softball and slo-pitch are the unofficial summer games in town.

"It's very popular, and it's good because we've got the 24-hour sunlight so you can play until one o'clock in the morning. So it's ball all day long. That's why I love this town.

"This is very competitive but everybody has fun, that's the main thing," he added.

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