Take a baseball game. Think of everything going wrong that could go wrong. Now imagine a final score. Probably thinking mercy rule, right?
Not when you're the Moose Jaw Major AAA All-Stars.
No, the All-Stars are the kind of team where even on a night were everything seems to be going against them, they’re still going to have a chance to win in the end. And Friday night’s 11-6 loss to North Regina in the Little League Saskatchewan provincial championship showed just that.
The All-Stars gave up a total of nine walks, committed three errors, hit a few batters and in general just couldn’t catch a break – and yet, there they were scrapping to score runs and staying in contact with Regina right until the final out.
That’s going to be the key going forward, in coach Tony Dreger’s assessment, especially with a team that has tasted in-province losses so rarely.
“We didn’t hang our heads and we didn’t give up,” Dreger said when asked what did go right on Friday night at Gamble Diamond. “We kept battling right to the end even though we were down, we didn’t catch back up but we kept battling and kept hitting baseballs and that’s big for kids who are 11 and 12 years old. We never want to give up the fight and I’m proud of the guys for that.”
Things got off to a normal start for both teams as they found themselves tied 1-1 through two innings. Then things started to come undone for the local squad – the free passes began to add up and North Regina took advantage, scoring three runs in the third and adding another four in the fourth to build an 8-1 lead.
The All-Stars battled back with four runs of their own in their half of the fourth, pulling to within three and showing that their offence was still dangerous as ever even with things going wrong on in the field.
“We hit the ball really well tonight, it was right at kids but we were hitting it,” Dreger said. “And we were hitting it hard. So we’ll just keep doing that and find the holes tomorrow.”
The All-Stars finished with a total of 12 hits, with Javin Boynton going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run batted in, Max Simmons going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and Cooper Gregor putting together a 1-for-2 night with two RBI and two walks. Noah Thul, Tyson Ross and Owen Varjassy all had two hits each.
The All-Stars pitching staff was a revolving door, as Boynton, Simmons, Gregor, Nathan Pisio, Trevhan McMorris and Varjassy all saw time on the mound. As rough a night as they had, Dreger is confident his troops will rebound in fine form.
“That’s not like our pitching staff, normally we don’t walk that many guys or hit that many guys,” he said. “It’s an off night and at least we get another chance tomorrow… this is round robin, so if we’re going to lose one, this is the one to lose. The guys are going to be battle-tested for tomorrow and we’ll got get ‘em.”
The provincial tournament now moves into the double knockout phase, with the All-Stars taking on Regina Kiwanis on Saturday night. The winner of that contest will face Regina North on Sunday. All games are 6 p.m. at Gamble Diamond.
The tournament champion will advance to the Canadian Little League Championship Aug. 1-10 in Ancaster, Ont., with the national champion representing Canada at the legendary Little League World Series Aug. 15-25 in Williamsport, Penn.
