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Juggernauts on a roll Drub M&T to claim Sakku First Cup in Rankin
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 18, 2013
RANKIN INLET
The Juggernauts took the third battle of the slo-pitch titans when they defeated M&T Enterprises 11-5 to capture the Sakku First Cup championship in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.
The teams had to field five male and five female players at the event.
The Juggernauts earned a bye into the final by finishing first in round-robin play, while M&T got past Sarliaq by an identical 11-5 score in the semifinal.
Gloria Kaludjak pitched the Juggernauts to the win in the final game.
The game was the third championship encounter between the two teams this year, with M&T claiming the Calm Air Cup and the Juggernauts taking the Rankin mixed-league crown.
Both teams will get to participate in the 2014 Canadian nationals in Winnipeg by advancing to the cup final.
Tournament co-organizer Andrew Akerolik said everyone was disappointed when Coral Harbour had to miss the event after First Air had mechanical difficulties and had to cancel the team's flight.
He said the three Rankin teams delayed the start of the tourney in hopes the airline would put on a make-up flight, but it wasn't to be.
"We would have liked to have had more teams, but it was a good start and it's exciting to have two Rankin teams going to the nationals in 2014," said Akerolik.
"This will be the first time two Rankin teams will be at the event at the same time.
"The Juggernauts played at the nationals in Niagara Falls (Ont.) this past year.
"We'll continue to have two spots at the nationals, which moves around from year to year, so, hopefully, we'll have more teams from other communities at our 2014 Sakku First Cup tournament."
Akerolik said most of the games in the round-robin were much closer than, maybe, some people expected.
He said the tournament is about playing and having fun, but all three Rankin teams were hungry to earn one of the two top spots.
"It certainly turned out to be a lot more competitive than I thought.
"Everyone wanted to win and, in my opinion, the competitiveness was good.
"All our teams and the tournament committee were disappointed we only had local teams, and a lot of the Coral players were heartbroken over having to miss it.
"Hopefully, we can grow this because it's a great opportunity to send two teams to the nationals, which are a great experience and a lot of fun to play in."
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