Not only had they finished with a 13-2 record in the regular season, they’d also steamrolled their opponents through the first two rounds — taking a 13-3 win over the Regina Clippers before dominating the ‘A’ side final 14-5 over the Regina Mudhens.
But things took a bit of an ominous turn not long after they arrived at the North Regina diamond for the championship game and a rematch with the Clippers. The tension of the moment seemed to be weighing on the local crew of 11- and 12-year-olds, and it showed quickly.
“You could see the kids were a little nervous, they were kicking around balls, they weren’t catching fly balls, they had a bad warm-up to start and it carried over into the first two innings,” said A’s coach Cortney Lacelle.
And just like that, Moose Jaw was down 6-1.
But as their record would indicate, these A’s weren’t just some normal run-of-the-mill team. And when their leadership group of Takeo Smith, Colton Lacelle and Kaleb McCrystal decided they were having nothing to do with an upset in a championship final, that was all she wrote.
The Athletics would score 14 runs through the remainder of the game and eventually take a 15-8 victory, landing Moose Jaw yet another Regina league championship.
“We ended up pulling the kids aside after the end of the top of the second and had a pretty good chat with them,” Lacelle said. “Then our leaders really stepped up after that, got the kids rolling and from there they took charge of the rest of the game… it’s great to have kids like that ready to step up, especially in a game that important.”
It was a fitting end to a season to remember, even if it wasn’t quite as normal as usual.
And the impressive thing is it was a team effort from start to finish. All nine of their regular player had an impact at some point or another during the season, with their team-first attitude playing a key role in their success.
“We had nine kids who were full time on our team and they were always there for each other,” Lacelle explained. “If someone was down or someone was having a bad game, there was always someone new who stepped up. All nine players at some point in the year were the best players in our game. It never seemed to be one individual or one kid, it was always about the team and the kids bought into that.”
Lacelle pointed to Sara Umana as an example.
“We had some timely pitching from Takeo and Colton for sure, but our big standout was Sara,” he said. “She didn’t really want to pitch at all this season and I kind of forced her into a couple of games. Once she started throwing, we saw a lot of potential in her and we worked with her and she ended up closing out almost every one of our playoff games… they just couldn’t touch her, there was just something about her pitching.”
Lacelle also gave credit to his crew of parents, who were enthusiastic about the entire program, from the busy practice schedule to the compact run of games.
“I’m one who likes to practice a lot, so we were practising two times a week and playing two or three times a week and I was just happy our parents bought into the game,” he said. “They were more than happy to bring their kids to the field five times a week, and it all ended up paying off.”
That included dealing with the COVID-19 uncertainty, where Lacelle was initially just happy to run a series of practices as something to do before North Regina was cleared to put together a season. Once a 13-game schedule was announced, the families were all for it. The playoffs? The same.
“They were all on board right from the start,” Lacelle said. “And look how it turned out for us.”
The Athletics will now have a lifetime of memories from a season that could have been lost to the pandemic.
“The kids were stoked, I talked to my kid’s teacher tonight and he said he was still vibrating all day at school,” Lacelle said with a laugh. “And two of my players called me to thank me again to thank me for a great season this year. It’s a great moment for any team and any coach and that’s all you can ask for.”
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