| Can the Kokanee Come Back? 
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| (CBL Newswire) - by Zeke Lewis of the Creston Craze |
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With just 35 games remaining in the season the current league champions find themselves 5 games out of a playoff spot. Creston is trying to make the playoffs for the third straight season, but the streak is in jeopardy as Victoria is rejuvenated under new ownership, and Kelowna refuses to give up their streak of consecutive division titles.
"I said after the playoffs that getting out of our own division wasn’t going to be a guarantee this season" remembered manager Mike Roberts. "It looks like we will have 3 teams with over 100 wins and one of them is not going to get in. Having 3 teams win that many games in one division is unbelievable. All we can do is keep winning em and hope that the other two teams cool off. We’ve played pretty good, but the hot streaks that Victoria and Kelowna have been on make it tough to catch up. Especially that streak of Kelowna’s absolutely ridiculous!"
This Creston team is the exact same line up that earned the wildcard birth and went on the improbable playoff run to win the beer last season. Statistically, the pitching is performing better than last year, and the offense is right on pace. The pitching staff already boasts three 20 game winners, the legend Jovon Yakow in what will be his last campaign, current all star and playoff MVP Piotr Hynes, and up and comer Carl Sawyer who now has back to back 20 win seasons in his young career. At the plate, triple crown winner Shannon Bailes is not having a good season by his standards, but Roy Eicholtz will drive in over 100 runs for the 5th straight season, Jimmy Dunning has joined the 30/30 club, and Joaquin Oberkfell has picked up for Bailes and has to be given serious consideration for Farmer’s League MVP if Creston gets in to the playoffs (.322 / 43HR / 102 RBI).
Creston has 3 head to head match ups left against both teams, so if they can narrow the gap by a couple of games and win those series there is still hope. "This is a team that doesn’t give up" said Roy Eicholtz, June player of the month. "The playoff experience the last two seasons has made us a confident bunch that believes in ourselves. We know what it’s like to be down and come back. We’re going to play hard down the stretch here and see what we can make happen".
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