The Predators were the hottest team to melt the frost at Hendrickson Park, taking the Squamish Slopitch Association's (SSPA) Ice Breaker Tournament Division 'A' title with an undefeated record on Saturday and Sunday (April 26 and 27).The team of veterans won all three round-robin games to earn a bye into the second round of the double-knockout playdowns, and continued slugging through to a 13-7 victory over the Go Getters from Mount Currie in the final. Predator Mike Decook pointed to the old adage: the best offence is a good defence."We just played sound defence while on offence the bats were there," he said as rains finally fell on what was, for the most part, a sunny weekend. "Everybody hit when they needed to although we didn't come out and crush anybody but we played good defensive, sound baseball."Besides keeping batters at bay, the Predators' most effective strategy is maintaining a tight unit that knows how to have fun. The core of the team has played together for at least five years. "Nobody on our team argues. We're all about having a good time and we're always joking - you have to laugh at yourself to be on our team [] a lot of teams are self-destructive because they get under each other's skins and start fighting."Meanwhile, the Wild Ones swung back from three straight round-robin losses to take the Division 'B' final 12-11 over the Pounders. The team of three generations lost just one game and won five to make it to the top of the double knockout playoff.Coach Eileen Jacobs said the team just had to regain focus on the game plan after being knocked down early."Everyone endured, it was really great," she said through loud cheers."I found talking to them on base coaching helped. I told them who's on base and what we needed and just to be solid and that's what it took and they did it. We like to have fun, that's pretty much what it is."And so goes the whole point of slopitch - getting out and active, encouraging each other and perhaps having a couple of pops while doing so. With SSPA league play having just started on Monday (April 21), many of the 39 teams have yet to step out on to the field. The Ice Breaker Tournament at least gave 12 teams a chance to warm up their throwing arms and knock the dust off their cleats. In fact, the tourney turned out to be all its name claimed, said SSPA vice-president Lisa Brickell. "It was a true ice breaker because there was frost all over the ground when we started [early Saturday morning]," she said with a laugh.Slopitch is getting more popular as six more teams were added this year. Meanwhile, bunting has been ruled out but the women hit a smaller ball than the men in order to encourage bigger hits (11-inch versus the men's 12-inch ball).Brickell said she is encouraged by the growing interest for the sport."People keep playing and playing and we're trying to get younger and younger players in as well to keep the sport alive."
