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Fastball teams in fast laneMustangs, Vets join elite circuit in search of berth at worldsBy James ShewagaThe Brandon SunIt’s a long way from Westman to a world championship.But for two local men’s fastball teams, it’s a road they are hoping to travel this year.The Brandon ANAF Vets and Minto Mustangs joined the fastball elite this season, entering the regional travelling league of the International Softball Congress (ISC). The senior A-B loop is the highest calibre of fastball played in Manitoba, with the league champion earning a trip to the worlds.“We don’t kid ourselves,” says ANAF’s Mike Perreaux, a longtime star in the Brandon Commercial Fastball League. “We don’t claim to be the best team in the province, but it is sure fun trying to get there.”The ISC world championship, slated for Aug. 14-24 this year in Kimberley, Wis., features 32 of the top teams from around the globe, including perennial powerhouses from Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.And after enjoying success at the local and provincial level, both the Vets and Mustangs have now turned to the ISC with the hope of testing their skills on the world stage.“We started talking about this probably four years ago and we’ve been building a team every since, picking up players and recruiting players,” says ANAF player-coach Daryl Fowler. “And this year we’ve finally got a team that we feel is extremely competitive at this level.”The Manitoba-based ISC league, one of five regional leagues across Canada that will send their champions to the world championship, plays its 15-game schedule in three weekend tournaments. The loop is currently ruled by the Winnipeg Red Dogs, who sport a perfect 5-0 record, with Minto second at 4-1 and ANAF in last place out of six teams with an 0-3-2 record. Rounding out the league are clubs from Portage, Winkler and Fargo, N.D.With two tournaments remaining on the league schedule, slated for Fargo on June 29-30 and Brandon’s Curran Park on July 6-7, theCOLIN CORNf AU/BRANL’ON SUNANAF manager Daryl Fowler is looking more to the futureVets will likely need a little divine intervention to have any chance of earning the world berth this season.“We’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to go to the worlds this year,” says Fowler. “But we knew we were in an uphill battle this year with Winnipeg and Minto, they are both quality ball teams. I’d love to go 10-0 the rest of the way and win it, but we’re probably talking next-year country for us.”The Mustangs, however, are another story. This collection of 30-and 40-something fastball aficionados has been around for 27 years, winning five provincial championships in the past 10 years, including the 1994 and 1995 intermediate A titles, without playing in a league. While many still consider Minto home, only three team members actually continue to live near the town, located about 50km south of Brandon.Veterans like catcher Kevin Bartley, shortstop Dennis Kyle and pitcher Bev Workman remain the heart and soul of the Mustangs, who captured the Western Canadian intermediate A championship back in 1988. However, with a couple of keyadditions from Winnipeg, including grizzled 44-year-old fireballer Cliff Bishop, the Minto squad set its sights higher this season.“We weren’t getting any younger and we wanted a chance to go to the worlds,” says Workman, a 39-year-old right-handed hurler who has played 21 seasons with the Mustangs.Minto missed a chance to qualify for the world championship by just one run last weekend in Regina at an open regional qualifying tournament for teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana and North Dakota. Minto advanced to the tournament final, but lost 1-0 to a Regina all-star squad that scored the deciding run in the bottom of the seventh.“That was likely our best chance to qualify,” says Workman, whose club defeated its Winnipeg rivals 3-2 in the tournament. “We’re still in contention, but now we’re going to have to win the league to qualify. The team from Winnipeg 1 don’t think is going to lose too many games. So we’re going to have to play really well to do it.”The Mustangs will also be gunning for the third straight provincial title this summer when theyWORKMAN: Minto a real forcecompete in either the Manitoba senior B championship (Aug 3-5 in Winnipeg) or intermediate A (July 13-14 in Winkler) tournament.While the Mustangs are approaching the twilight of their careers, the Vets consider themselves a club just coming into its prime. Commercial league champions in 1990, 1993 and 1994, the Vets left the Brandon loop last year to concentrate on the com petitive tournament circuit.In the Commercial league there were some good teams, but we just found that playing in that league and then going up against teams like Minto in provincials, didn’t do us any good,” said Perreaux.This season, the Vets added pitcher Brett Nohr and infielder Glen Bentz to a squad that is led by Perreaux and fellow right-hander Ken Shaw. And while the squad struggled in its first ISC tournament, ANAF gained some confidence when it defeated Minto 5-2 in an A-side game in last weekend’s Regina tournament.And if they do miss qualifying for worlds, the Vets are looking to put the experience they gain this season to better use next year.“That’s probably one of our biggest advantages,’’ says Fowler. We kind of have youth on our side. A lot of the teams we are playing probably have an average age of 35, whereas we have an average age of about 27. We’ve never gone to the worlds before. But the team we have, we’ve got a team that could do it.”
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sunday Free Press
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Sun, Jun 16, 1996
Page 30
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