And now they’ll have a chance to play for a league championship at home against a surprise opponent.
The Canucks rolled to an 8-0 win over the Regina Buffalos in their semi at Andrie Diamond and will host the Regina Pacers for gold at 3 p.m. on Sunday, after the Pacers upset the first-place White Butte Broncos earlier in the day.
“Literally everybody did something to contribute to this win, every one of our boys showed up today willing to do the job we needed to do and it was fun to watch as a coach, a lot of fun,” said Canucks coach Jon Cotter.
“We picked the best time to play our best game of the year. We didn’t play our best game in our last regular-season game, so for them to show and do what they did shows a lot for their character and what they bring to the table.”
Cotter isn’t kidding in his description of the contest – in addition to nearly invoking the mercy rule with their offence, the Canucks had one of the best pitching performances in Moose Jaw baseball this season, as Owen Varjassy needed only 69 pitches to go seven innings, allowing only two hits, two walks and striking out three.
His defence was lights out behind him, making impressive play after impressive play – whether it was Cameron Beisal recovering an overthrow of first base and gunning the runner down at second or Kale Pratte bare-handing a slow-roller at third and firing a strike to first, plays were being made everywhere, all the time.
At the plate, Max Simmons finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in as the Canucks took a 3-0 lead out of the second inning, tacked on two more in the third and another three in the fourth before putting things into cruise control.
Riley Cushway and Beisal were each 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
That all sets up the gold medal game against the Pacers, who like the Buffalos gave the Canucks a bit of trouble early in the season – tying 9-9 on July 23 and taking a 15-13 win five days later. It was all Moose Jaw in their most recent meetings, though, with a 10-4 win on Aug. 20 and 7-2 victory on Sept. 2.
“I think we just gotta do a lot of what we did today, play good defence and get great pitching on the mound,” Cotter said when asked what it would take to win it all. “And then just swing the bats and run the bags. There were no mental errors today and it showed on the scoreboard… If we don’t bring our A game, it’s anybody’s game, but I expect our boys to do what they did today. Show up with a lot of energy and ready to go.”
