The Moose Jaw All Stars just keep rolling along at the Canadian Little League Regional championship.
The All Stars picked up a 4-1 victory over tournament host Rocky Mountain Little League in Calgary on Tuesday afternoon, improving to 4-1 in the tournament and further solidifying their position as a full-on title contender.
The four wins also mean Moose Jaw has qualified for the playoffs and will be in action in the semifinal on Thursday.
The All Stars got into a bit of a jam in the first inning thanks to a couple of defensive miscues that led to loaded bases with none out, but starter Emery Schoenroth would get two ground outs and a strikeout to get out of the inning.
The All Stars got on the board in the bottom of the first, and once again, Neal Kohl factored into things. The standout outfielder took a Rocky Mountain offering high and hard to centrefield, with the ball eluding the outfielder and going all the way to the wall. That allowed Dillon Flanagan to score from second, and Moose Jaw had the quick 1-0 lead.
Kohl himself then scored on a Luke Turner ground out, giving the All Stars a 2-0 edge after the opening frame.
Rocky Mountain got one back in the second off a couple of chopping comebackers and a base hit, sending Schoenroth up against the pitch limit and bringing Zaid Guillaume to the mound.
Schoenroth pitch 1 ⅓ innings and struck out a pair.
Guillaume inherited a couple of baserunners and came on with one out, but it wouldn’t matter, as he’d use his high-60s fastball to strike out both batters he faced.
Luke Pratte knocked home Jackson Boyle with Moose Jaw’s third run in the second, and after Rocky Mountain got a double play, Kohl struck again, with another hot shot to the outfield tying up a defender and bringing home Pratte.
Guillaume went to work from there with a 4-1 lead, picking up from his stellar showing against Calgary on Saturday by pitching 2 ⅔ and striking out five, allowing only one hit before also leaving the game due to pitch limit constraints.
Head coach Troy Turner held both Schoenroth and Guillaume to the 35-pitch limit that requires only one day of rest between appearances, meaning both will be available for the semifinal.
Trey Stanhope took over from there and got the final two outs of the fifth before shutting down Rocky Mountain in the sixth to secure the victory.
Moose Jaw now closes out their round robin against Quebec on Wednesday afternoon, with the first pitch at 3:30 p.m. You can catch all the action on www.cbc.ca.
