Keewatin Tribal Council scored seven runs in the fifth inning of the final against the War Lake 286 Sluggers to win 13-4 in a national qualifier slo-pitch tournament July 26 in Thompson.
KTC picked up $2,000 for the win, as well as a spot in the 2010 D division slo-pitch nationals in Calgary. War Lake walked away with $1,000 cash prize.
Eight of KTC's first nine batters in the bottom of the fifth reached base, with three recording doubles, to take the game from 5-4 to 12-4 before a force out and a pop out ended the inning.
War Lake opened a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, but KTC got one back on a sacrifice fly in their at-bat, then went ahead 3-2 in the second inning on a two-out rally. War Lake scored two in the third inning to re-take the lead, but the offence was all KTC from then on, as the eventual winners scored two in the fourth to take the lead for good and then tagged on one more run in the bottom of the sixth.
War Lake was undefeated until the final, winning all four round-robin games, three of them by a single run, including a 12-11 victory over KTC, before beating the 308 Bombers in the playoffs.
KTC went 3-1 in round-robin play, then beat Northern Extreme 13-7 in the playoffs to qualify for the final.
Northern Extreme was 2-2 in the round robin, beating the 308 Bombers and Split Lake Sluggers.
Split Lake had a single round-robin win, recording a 17-10 victory over the 308 Bombers, who were winless before beating Split Lake in the first round of the playoffs.
