The Moose Jaw Canucks finished a single win away from playing for a gold medal during the Baseball Sask 11U AA Tier I provincial championship this past weekend at Bell Park.
Alas, the local crew dropped a 19-14 decision in the tournament semifinal on Sunday morning, with their lone loss of the event knocking them from contention.
Things had gone swimmingly for the Canucks up to that point, as they rolled to a 12-2 win over Balcarres in their opener on Friday before taking back-to-back wins Saturday -- 10-7 over the Saskatoon A’s and 11-4 over the Muenster Red Sox -- to book their semifinal berth.
The Swift Current 57’s edged the Saskatoon Cardinals Chaos 7-6 in the other semifinal, and Swift Current would go on to win gold with an 11-1 win over the White Butte Broncos.
The Canucks also hosted the 15U AA Tier III provincial tournament this past weekend, but didn’t have as much luck as their younger counterparts.
Moose Jaw opened with a tough 5-4 loss to the White Butte Broncos, a defeat that would have longer-term consequences. After a close 10-7 loss to the Regina Expos in their second game, the Canucks would take a 15-4 win over the Esterhazy Cyclones to cap round robin play with a 1-2 record.
As a result, had they found a way to scrounge an extra couple runs in their opening game, the Canucks would have made the playoff round.
The Nipawin Giants would defeat White Butte 12-0 in their semifinal and go on to take a 9-5 win over the Regina Expos for gold.
