Ball teams win experience
Men's and women's teams from Inuvik
to represent town and territory
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 11, 2016
INUVIK
Donald Hendrick knew going into the 2016 National Slo-Pitch Championship in Whitehorse that his team - the Native Yankees - were in for a rough ride.
The Native Yankees, representing Inuvik and the Northwest Terriories at this year's national slo-pitch championships in Whitehorse, include in the back row, from left, Corey Baetz, Scott Ross, Drew Friesen, Nolan Kasook, Glen "Deuce" Tingmiak, Gary Gordon, Eric Cockney, Donald Hendrick and Phil Alexie. In the front row, from left, are Stefan Allen, Kyle Kuptana, Thomas Anthony and Gordie Kasook. - photo courtesy of Donald Hendrick
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"The first couple of games, it's just the nerves," he said.
"We're playing against the top teams in Canada, they got the top sponsors and travel all the time for tournaments, but we're going to pull it together and keep going."
As of press time on Aug. 9, the team had played three games, against Alberta, the host Yukon team, and Ontario, with a fourth set for later in the day against Manitoba.
The Yankees hoped to turn their losing streak around and win at least one game in the round robin, Hendrick said.
"Our defence is good," he said.
"We need to get our sticks moving better, batting-wise."
Hendrick noted, as per Softball Canada rules, teams aren't allowed to play with their own bats, and are instead given 36 brand new bats per team for the tournament.
While there is nothing wrong with the quality of the equipment, Hendrick said using an unfamiliar bat takes some getting used to.
Concerns have also been raised over the women's games being played on a dirt field across the road from the much nicer grass field where the men's games take place.
The coach for the Angels, Jeff Amos, said he and his women's team have no problem playing on the dirt fields, especially since they are smaller, which makes it easier to knock the ball out of the park.
"We're okay where we're at," he said, before praising the team's efforts in their first game Aug. 9 against Ontario. "It's a good experience for all of them. They have the confidence they'll do well."
He said three or four players have competed at big tournaments like this one before, but that for some this was all new territory.
"It's our first time all playing together here," he said.
"It's good that we got our first game out of the way, there were some jitters, and we got mercied, but we did OK."
Whatever the result, Hendrick called just playing in the tournament a win.
"We expected the other teams would be good," he said.
"We're here to have fun, play some ball, and see how we could play up against the top teams in Canada."
