For the 16th time in his career, Chad Ghostkeeper is a national champion. And, as has often been the case, he played a major role in the victory.
Ghostkeeper, a 41-year-old catcher, was part of an Invermere A's team that beat the Westbank Cardinals 5-4 in the final game of the Canadian native fastball championships. The tournament was held in Cranbrook and was capped off by a final that required two extra innings to decide.
In the bottom of the ninth inning -- at about 3 a.m. on Sunday -- Ghostkeeper stepped to the plate with men on second and third and connected on a drop ball. He drove the pitch into the left-field gap and both runners scored.
Game over.
"It felt good, especially getting the hit," Ghostkeeper said. "It was a good final and I'll keep on playing while I can."
In the game for gold, the A's came back from deficits three times to finally win. They scored tying runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings but trailed again after the top of the ninth. That led to Ghostkeeper's heroics in the bottom half of the inning.
The contest went so late that the stadium lights turned off automatically in the sixth inning and a 20-minute delay ensued.
Prince George players Randy Potskin, Evan Potskin, Colin Ghostkeeper and Brendon Creyke were also in uniform for the A's. Former city resident Collin McKenzie was the winning pitcher.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, featured P.G. products Jessin Potskin, Jason Fulton, Bucko Fulton, Danny Fulton and Craig Patrick.
The A's went a perfect 6-0 in the tournament's top division. Included in that record was a 7-0 win against the Cardinals in the A final.
"We played well," said Randy Potskin. "We had a pretty good team. I think we were the favourites to win it. Having five Prince George guys was kind of nice because we had that comfort and that chemistry."
The A's entered nationals as the defending champions.
By Randy Potskin's count, he has now been a part of 11 native national championships. Eight of those came with Prince George clubs known as the Reds, Lumber Kings and River Kings. From 2000 to 2006, the Lumber Kings/River Kings ruled the tournament. They placed third in 2007 and haven't sent a team since 2008.
"It would be nice to have our own team again but it costs quite a bit of money to go to these things," Ghostkeeper said.
