The Amirco Barry Pickers battled back from the losers鈥� bracket to challenge Just Call Vince in the finals of the Inuvik Slo-Pitch Association鈥檚 playoffs last weekend, but JCV鈥檚 bats were too hot to contain as the team went on to win the championship in an undefeated playoff run.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy,鈥� said Mark Robertson of JCV. 鈥淲e were hoping to finish the season off like this.鈥�

The team capitalized on something of a weakened field as some of the top teams were missing roster players.

鈥淭here were a couple of teams in the tournament that weren鈥檛 as strong as they usually are, so we took advantage of that and ended up coming out on top,鈥� said Robertson.

鈥淚t was still a very competitive tournament. Lots of close games and everyone had a lot of fun.鈥�

The final between JCV and the Barry Pickers was close until midway through when JCV鈥檚 bats exploded and the team hit several home runs to take a commanding league.

Robertson said the team鈥檚 bats got hot at the right time.

鈥淓very ball I pitched to them, they hit out,鈥� said Barry Jacobson of the Barry Pickers.

His team repeated last year鈥檚 finish, coming second in the finals again. Last year, the Native Yankees took the league playoffs.

鈥淢y team played hard, had to battle back from the losers鈥� side bracket, came back into the finals,鈥� said Jacobson. 鈥淲e had a hard game against these guys. They played great.鈥�

The league started with nine teams and finished the season with seven.

Jacobson, president of the slo-pitch association, said teams showed a lot of improvement during the summer, pointing specifically to the TNT Dodgers, Fire Department and Swings Both Ways.

The playoffs Sunday marked the end of the slo-pitch season in Inuvik.