Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

The Mansfield Cubs have earned the right to go to the North Dufferin Baseball League Junior championship after blasting their way through the opening round of playoffs.

The Cubs have had a stellar season finishing in first place in the seven team junior division with a 22-2 record.

They scored 252 runs while allowing only 105 against.

When it comes to playoffs, there was little room for error. The first round series was a best-of-three meaning a single bad game could spell trouble.

The Cubs were up against the Lisle Astros in the first round with game one getting underway in Mansfield on Wednesday, August 1.

The first couple of innings were pretty even with Lisle leading 5-3 in the third inning.

That's when the Cubs stepped it up and got the bats moving to take a 9-6 lead in the fifth inning.

It was a chippy affair with one Lisle player being ejected from the game after making a comment while at bat and the umpire tossing him out.

The final was a 17-7 win for the Cubs.

Game two of the series got underway the next night in Lisle.

The Cubs ended the series scoring another 17 runs while shutting out the Astros and ending their season.

The Cubs will now face the Ivy Blues for the junior division championship.

The Blues knocked out the Orangeville Bengals in two games in their playoff series. Game one saw Ivy leave with a 6-5 win. The second game ended the Bengals season with a 7-3 loss.

The final series will be a good one to watch. Ivy finished the regular season in second place – four points behind the Cubs – with a 20-4 record, scoring 232 runs.

These will be two evenly matched squad who will have to give it their best effort to come out on top.

The Junior championship will be a best-of-five series and will get underway on Tuesday, August 14.