North Dufferin League moves to championship series 

By Brian Lockhart 

The North Dufferin Baseball League will be starting the senior division championships series this weekend after completing the second round of the playoffs. 

The Manfield Cubs are done for the season. 

The Cubs bowed out after losing two games straight to the Bolton Brewers in round one of their playoff series.  

They played their final game on Sunday, August 29.  

 "All in all we had a fun, successful condensed season," said Cubs coach, Emerson Pendleton. "Even in a ten-game regular season we faced adversity, but the Cubs survived and will be ready to progress with next year's full season.  Our strong core of committed team players, coaches and family/fans allowed us to achieve our goal of making the playoffs this year. Look out for the Mansfield Cubs sharp new uniforms next year.  Thanks to everyone who supports the North Dufferin Baseball League and the Minor Baseball Teams that keep baseball thriving through [the] years."

The championship series will pit the Bolton Brewers against the New Lowell Knights to compete for the 2021 Strother Cup. 

The Brewers finished the regular season as the first-place team ending the schedule with an 8-2 record. 

They eliminated the Mansfield Cubs in the first round of playoffs winning two games to take the opening round series.  

In the second round they hammered the Barrie Angels 10 – 0 in game one of the series then followed up with a 13 – 1 win in game two to win the series and earn the right to advance to the championship.  

The Brewers are past champions having won the Strother Cup five years in a row from 2009 to 2013, before taking a break from the league and playing in a different league for a few years. 

The New Lowell Knights won their opening series over the Ivy Leafs in two games. They advanced through the second round with a 2 – 0 series win over the Creemore Padres. 

The Knights finished the regular season in second place with an 8 -2 record. 

New Lowell are the defending Strother Cup champions having last won in 2019.  

There was no champion in 2020 due to the league being cancelled because of the pandemic.  

The Knights also claimed the title in 2015 and 2016. 

The final series is going to be a real battle with two powerhouse teams meeting on the diamond in an all-out effort to clinch the 2021 championship.  

Both teams had identical regular season records and very close, runs for, runs against statistics. 

Most likely this final series will come down to a couple of runs to determine the winner and a single error could mean the difference between a win and a loss. 

The League has not yet announced when the champion series will take place.