Batter up! $10,000 prize on the line in Calm Air Cup

Bragging rights and $10,000 are on the line for the 10 softball teams competing in the Calm Air Cup this week at Rankin Inlet’s Justin Merritt ballpark.

Bat Attitude shortstop Ben Tulugak rounds third base Wednesday as Avengers infielder Gregory Wiseman runs for the ball during the Calm Air Cup softball tournament in Rankin Inlet. (Photo by Daron Letts)

The five-day tournament features teams from Arviat, Baker Lake, Coral Harbour, Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet. Players from Whale Cove are in town to play with some of the teams, as well.

The action kicked off Wednesday with five games that started in the afternoon and spilled into early evening.

“We started off really hot defensively, but we crumbled,” said third baseman Colton Graham of the Rankin Inlet Avengers, after losing to Rankin Inlet’s Bat Attitude team 13-8 in the opening game.

“Our girls outplayed the guys, for sure.”

Graham’s team rallied later in the day to beat Rankin Inlet’s Rankdeez team 8-7.

The competition is organized as a round-robin tournament with two pools that compete in a double-elimination bracket.

“By Saturday and Sunday it will get more intense,” said umpire Chris Cobbett.

Cobbett and fellow official Barry Black are visiting from Winnipeg, flown north by Calm Air.

The intensity was not lacking on opening night as a crowd of 50 fans filled the bleachers. They clapped, hooted and hollered, and even shook empty pop bottles half-filled with gravel to loudly and proudly make their team allegiances known.

Kandace Graham has organized the event for the past decade. The tournament has been around since at least 1995, she said.

More than 11 games are scheduled Thursday, with the first game starting at 9 a.m. and the last game at 7 p.m. The playoffs are scheduled for Saturday and the final is set for Sunday.

The top two finishing teams will be eligible to compete in the 2027 national tournament hosted by Softball Canada, the locations for which are yet to be announced.

The first-place finisher wins a $10,000 prize to help with travel costs, which Rankin Inlet players fundraised for earlier in the year.