By Sam Laskaris

CHIPPEWAS OF RAMA FIRST NATION – Denny Benson and his teammates were forced to put in some extra work en route to their national championship.

Actually, it was a lot of extra work.

Benson is a member of the Toronto Batmen, who captured a Canadian crown on Sept. 3. Technically, it was already Sept. 4 when the Batmen registered a 1-0 victory over Newfoundland’s Galway Hitmen, courtesy off a 15th inning inside-the-park home run, in the Canadian Men’s and Master Men’s Fastpitch Championships.

The national tourney was held in Surrey, B.C.

The Batmen and Hitmen had also met in the championship final of the men’s category at the 2022 nationals, which the Newfoundland squad had hosted. The Hitmen won last year’s title thanks to a 4-1 triumph in the gold-medal contest.

This year’s final was originally scheduled to start at 3 p.m. PST, but a rain delay pushed back the start of the match until 8 p.m.

And since the contest, which featured seven innings of regulation play, required a whopping eight extra innings to decide a winner, it was about 12:30 Monday morning when the game ended.

“It was wild,” Benson said of the national final. “It was definitely a great game. And to beat that Newfoundland team was really nice.”

Benson and his teammates didn’t get to celebrate or have any immediate sleep afterwards as they had to be at the Vancouver airport around 4 a.m. to catch their return flight to Toronto.

Benson’s teammate Mason McKay was the hero of the contest as his 15th-inning hit bounced off the outfield wall. McKay managed to circle all the bases and score the winning run on the play.

For Benson, a 27-year-old who works as a Chippewas of Rama First Nation firefighter, this marked the first time he had won a national men’s title.

He had previously captured gold medals at a pair of Canadian junior men’s (23 and under) tournaments.

For starters, Benson was a member of the Team Ontario squad that took top honours at the Canada Summer Games held in Winnipeg in 2017.

The following year, Benson was on an Owen Sound club that won the Canadian junior men’s title.

Benson said winning this year’s national championship was the most significant one for him.

“One hundred per cent [this one means more],” he said. “The guys are all elite level at this point.”

Benson is highly regarded as earlier this year, he was one of 40 individuals named to the pool of athletes being considered for the Canadian roster for the 2025 world championships. Canada will attempt to advance to that event via a qualifier next year in Prince Albert, Sask.

“It’s a tough roster to crack,” Benson said of his chances of being named to the national squad. “There’s a lot of good guys there.”

Benson, who primarily played as a right fielder at the nationals, is the only Indigenous player on the Batmen roster.

And he was a key player for the Toronto squad in Surrey. He had a team-high .393 batting average in eight tournament matches. He also racked up 11 hits, 12 runs batted in (RBIs), and three home runs in those appearances.

The Batmen participated in five other tournaments this year, including the International Softball Congress world championships.

Benson and his teammates placed seventh in that event, which was held in the Wisconsin village of Denmark last month.