It was a roller-coaster ride in Florida, but the Comox Valley Cubs enjoyed a playoff run at the Roy Hobbs World Series in Fort Myers.
Playing in the 60-plus category, the Cubs lost their opener 14-4 to the Kent Mudhens of Ohio last weekend. They fared no better in the second game, suffering a 16-6 thumping from the Orlando Wrinkles.
But the Cubs couldn’t stay off the scoreboard in a 30-18 hammering of the St. Louis Dodgers. Batting first and leading the way, Ron Freeman went six for six at the plate. John Gowans and Kelly McGiffen continued their hitting streaks, as did Tony Wishart. Dale Greene and Dave Odamura started streaks, and Dave Fauteux turned the tide in the fourth inning with a leaping catch of a line drive by the first batter of that inning.
In the last before playoffs, the Cubs lost 15-7 to the DC Mets.
“We lost to a good team and we played a much better game,” said Cubs player Kevin Dobbelsteyn. “The DC Mets are a triple A team, and we gave them a pretty good run.”
After a slow start to the week, Dobbelsteyn had a couple of doubles and a single, and two outfield assists. Gary Ardron, batting third, hit the ball aggressively all day and anchored the outfield. Greene had a couple of line shots for hits, Fauteux threw a couple of almost scoreless innings, and Odamura hit well and played a tough shortstop.
The Cubs then lost 12-6 to the Huntsville Stars, but bounced back in the first playoff game with a 10-6 win over the Long Island Braves. Dobbelsteyn, with Greene catching, threw a four-hit complete game. McGiffen had a couple of hits, as did Wishart again, and Dobbelsteyn had two including a triple.
The dream came to an end Saturday in the semi-finals. Though the Cubs took an 8-5 lead into the seventh inning, they could not finish off Cecil’s Service of Seattle, who won 18-8 and went on to lose in the final of the Classics A Division.
”The team went further than ever,” Dobbelsteyn said. “The Friday playoff win was the first by this team in all our years in Florida. Wait till next year.”