The Moose Jaw All Stars might not have needed the win in the standings at the Canadian Little League Regional championship on Wednesday afternoon, but they got the job done against Quebec just the same
And in dramatic walk-off fashion at that.
Luke Turner scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning, giving Moose Jaw a 8-7 victory over Mirabel Diamond Academy and a 5-1 record through the round robin.
“It feels great, I don’t really know what to say right now, but I wanted to get another walk-off so bad and I got it, so it was a good win,” said Turner, who also had the base hit to walk off Atlantic in Moose Jaw’s second tournament game. “Our team is a really good team, we came out and played well again today.”
The All Stars went into the game at Rose Diamond in Calgary having already clinched a spot in the tournament semifinal, and as a result, head coach Troy Turner was focussed on keeping pitch counts down for his top pitchers throughout the contest.
Things took a turn for the weird for the All Stars in the top of the first inning, and it led to a quick Quebec lead.
Mirabel cracked back-to-back balls between third base and shortstop, with both going off the glove of a diving Kaiden Gadd at third before leading to baserunners. After a fielder’s choice to Emery Schoenroth that didn’t result in an out, Quebec was off to the races, and by the time things were said and done, they had four hits and four runs on the scoreboard.
Neal Kohl took all the damage on the mound and left in favour of Luke Turner with two outs, having run up against the 20-pitch limit that will keep him available for the semifinal on Thursday.
Moose Jaw has proven to be a resilient team all tournament, though, and it didn’t take long for the All Stars to get on the board.
All of one pitch.
Luke Pratte took the first offering he saw from the Quebec starter over the left field fence for a home run, getting Moose Jaw immediately back within one. A double play got Quebec out of further damage in the opening frame, but the statement was made.
After Turner got through the top half of the second without allowing a baserunner, Moose Jaw loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the frame for Pratte. A towering fly ball over the right fielder's head brought home Gadd and Jackson Boyle with the All Stars’ second and third runs, and after Cohen Symak hit into a fielder’s choice to bring home Turner, a Kohl double off the top of the centrefield wall scored Pratte for a 5-4 Moose Jaw lead.
Nigel Legare took over on the mound in the third and surrendered a pair of triples and a single to allow a pair of runs, giving Mirabel a 6-5 lead.
That didn’t last long, though -- back-to-back singles by Dillon Flanagan and Legare had runners first and third for Trey Stanhope, who grounded out to third but scored Flanagan with the tying run.
Quebec scored one run in the fifth to retake the lead but Moose Jaw once again had a rally in them. This time, Flanagan hit a single, went to second on a single by Gadd, stole third and scored on a passed ball, tying the game 7-7.
Legare ended up pitching three innings, allowing three runs on six hits.
Gadd took over in the top of the sixth and surrendered a single hit, but that would mark the end of the offence for Quebec and a chance for the walk-off win for Moose Jaw.
Turner would draw a lead-off walk, advance to second on a ground-out by Pratte, go to third on a single by Symak, and after Kohl was intentionally walked, would score on a two-out wild pitch to give the All Stars the 8-7 win.
Now, it’s on to their biggest game of the season.
The All Stars -- who finished in second place in the round robin, just behind perfect B.C. -- will take on Calgary West in their tournament semifinal on Thursday at 12 p.m.
Moose Jaw defeated the Alberta champions 10-6 in their round robin game, and will be looking for more of the same after winning five straight round robin games.
“We’re feeling good, we have a lot of momentum going into the semifinals and hopefully we can do good in the playoffs,” Turner said in his postgame interview on CBC.
You can watch the game live on www.cbc.ca.
