Mandingos stomp on the Spurs in final tournament play

In a thrilling end to a long weekend at the annual softball tournament in downtown Talkeetna, the Mandigos took the Spurs by surprise in a huge comeback win.

The annual slow pitch, double elimination tournament brought in a dozen teams and perhaps close to 200 people, both competing and watching the tournament play throughout the weekend.  The weather was a complete opposite of last year and allowed teams to compete without rain for the entire 3 days.

One by one, teams were eliminated from the tournament and the undefeated Talkeetna Spurs, sponsored by the VFW Post 3836, took on the Fairviews’ Mandingos in the final game Sunday evening.  At one point the Spurs had surged ahead by a score of 7 to 1.  The Mandingos came back in true Talkeetna style and tied the game. The Mandingos won in the final inning in the final minutes, 9 to 8. Fans that had been loudly cheering for the Spurs minutes before, were cheering just as loudly for the Mandingos in their strong comeback effort.

This was the 16^th annual softball tournament, originally played as part of the (now non-existant) Moose Dropping Festival.