And if that ends up being the case, who knows what can happen.
For the Moose Jaw Canucks in the Baseball Regina 11-and-under AA semifinals this past weekend, that scenario resulted in the biggest upset of the season as they downed the previously undefeated Lumsden Cubs 8-5 to book a spot in the gold medal game.
What made the win especially interesting is what had happened only a couple weeks earlier -- Moose Jaw led 9-0 at one point but ended up losing 10-9 in a walk-off to the very same Cubs.
“It was just some mental mistakes and our kids just kind of panicked,” explained Canucks coach Shane Sowden. “We made some errors at the end, weren’t swinging the bats anymore and they came back and won it. But it was close, and that was important.”
Knowing that they could compete with a team that had gone 15-0-2 in the regular season lit a charge under the local youngsters, and with a couple of weeks to prepare due to rainouts and scheduling issues, things came together extremely well.
“The confidence was there,” Sowden said. “With our team, it’s been fun seeing the kids grow throughout the year and it was almost a perfect storm for us because we had nothing to lose. We had a great practice on Thursday night and took a lot of hacks, and it was just ‘if we’re going to go down, let’s go down swinging, put a lot of pressure on them and have fun and see what happens’.”
So what happened? An 8-1 lead after four innings -- largely due to a five-run outbreak in the third -- and an almost mirror image of their previous meeting with the Cubs.
Houston Hillmer was a major part of that, holding Lumsden to a single run as the Moose Jaw offence went to work. Then Hudson Sowden took over with a simple directive -- throw strikes and finish things off.
“Then our infield played really well, and at this age, if you can make some plays you have a shot,” coach Sowden said. “We bent a little bit, but unlike the other game, we were able to make those plays when we needed them. So it was nice to see the kids respond that way and having a chance to celebrate a bit.”
Hillmer helped out his own cause by reaching base four times and scoring a run, while Brady Wilcox crossed the plate twice for Moose Jaw. Ryder Leblanc also reached three times and scored a run.
The Canucks will now await the winner of the other semifinal between the second Lumsden Cubs team and the Regina Yankees. That game is being played Thursday, with the time and location of the final to be determined.
