Knots unravelled in St. John’s senior softball

It took the application of tiebreakers to sort things out, but the final standings are established for the 2017 Molson St. John’s Senior Softball League.

The league’s regular season came to a close Wednesday at Lions Park with two games, plus the conclusion of a contest carried over from June The Kelly’s Pub Molson Bulldogs registered a 4-0 shutout of the Canada Games team (4-20), a result that gave the defending champion Bulldogs first place. They and the 3 Cheers Pub Bud Light Dodgers both finished with 16-8 records, but the Bulldogs were awarded top spot having gone 4-2 in the season series with the Dodgers. Meanwhile, the NTV Hitmen thrashed The Bigs 19-4 in a regularly scheduled game that went just five innings. It was the Hitmen’s second win over The Bigs on the night as they earlier prevailed 14-13 in the conclusion of a June 13 curfew-suspended contest. However, despite the two Hitmen victories and the lopsided score in the abbreviated contest, it was The Bigs securing third place when the teams found themselves with similar 12-12 records to end the season. The teams split the season series, but The Bigs outscored the Hitmen 61-51 overall to come out on top in the second tiebreaker and standings.

That sets up best-of-five semifinals (Bulldogs vs Hitmen and Dodgers vs The Bigs), with schedules to be determined.

In the meantime, the teams are getting ready for the provincial senior men’s championship tournament, starting today at Lions Park, weather permitting. All five of the St. John’s league’s teams are involved in the tourney, scheduled to end with a championship final Sunday. Opening games today see the Bulldogs and Games team playing at 6 p.m., followed by the Hitmen and Dodgers at 8 p.m.