Before the Moose Jaw All Stars went on their magical run to the championship final at Canadian Little League Regionals, there was another local squad that came a win away from a provincial title.
And an improbable one at that.
Despite finishing the Baseball Regina regular season with a 10-12-2 record and entering provincials seeded ninth out of 11 teams, the Moose 13U AAA Canucks went on a roll throughout the tournament, eventually upsetting White Butte in the semifinal before falling to the Saskatoon Cardinals in the title game.
The Canuck didn’t get off to the start they were hoping for, falling 25-10 to the Cardinals in their round-robin opener in Regina, but there were signs of things to come -- every player had at least a hit in the game, and Moose Jaw left 11 runners on base. Drayson Silbernagel and Avery Nielsen drew the duties on the mound and were around the zone all game but couldn’t shut down the eventual provincial champs.
Things got on track in game two against the Saskatoon Blue Jays, leading to a 13-10 win. Ronan Tonge -- who recently returned to the team after suffering a mid-season broken arm -- enjoyed a 5-for-5 day at the plate while James Howe, Ryker Kretsch, Nielsen and Van Glasser all had three hits. Silbernagel and Riley Ducharme had two knocks each, Max Craig scored four runs.
Riley Ducharme got the start and pitched five solid innings, Reid Weiss closed things out.
Takeo Smith turned in a gem on the mound in their third round-robin game as the Canucks edged the Regina Expos 5-2. Smith reached the pitch threshold of 85 with two outs in the seventh, and Kretsch needed only two pitches to finish things off.
Tonge had another perfect game at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a home run, while Silbernagel was also 3-for-3.
That sent Moose Jaw into their final round robin game needing a win over Swift Current to secure second place in their pool, and they’d get the job done, picking up a 7-4 victory. Tonge continued to lead the offence, hitting a home run, while Rylan Taylor, Howe, Kretsch and Glasser also scored runs.
Kretsch went the distance on the mound and enjoyed a solid showing from the defence behind him, scattering four hits over his seven innings of work.
That set the stage for the match with White Butte, who were unbeaten thus far in the tournament. Moose Jaw roared out to a nine-run lead through four innings, but the Broncos slowly chipped away until they took a 17-16 edge heading into the final frame.
There, the Canucks bats came through, with Grady Johnstone cracking a stand-up two-run double to bring home the tying and winning runs. Rylan Gray, Weiss and Smith all scored runs in the frame, and Moose Jaw took a 19-17 win.
Tonge also hit his third home run of the tournament in the contest.
Glasser pitched five innings for Moose Jaw before Taylor came on to close things out
That set the stage for the final, and a long weekend of games combined with the Cardinals’ hard-hitting offence led to a tough loss, with Saskatoon taking a 22-2 win and Moose Jaw claiming their hard-fought silver medals.
