The 11-and-under squad did it in style, too, taking a walk-off victory after scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning – a turn of events head coach Shane Sowden thought was especially heartening given how they had taken a 9-6 lead heading into the inning.
“It was pretty fun for the kids, I think they were a little disappointed we gave up the lead but to come back and win, show a level of maturity for this level and not freak out, that was really nice to see,” he said.
The contest was back and forth in the early going, with the Canucks eventually scoring five in the fourth inning to take an 8-3 lead. The Blue Jays would chip away, though, scoring three in the top of the fifth and adding another three in their half of the sixth to tie the game 9-9.
That set the stage for Jaxon Weston, who hit a lead-off triple, and after the second batter walked, Grady Johnstone drove Weston home with the game-winning run.
It was a fitting end to a game that saw the Canucks show off the kind of improvement being a year older and a year more knowledgeable about the game can bring.
“This year, three-quarters of our team are 11-year-olds, and it shows mentally,” Sowden said. “I was like ‘oh my goodness, they know to hit the cut-off man’ and we almost turned a double play yesterday. Fielders were covering on throwdowns to second and third. Baseball plays were happening where last year we had to teach that for two months, and it’s carried over this year.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt that a number of players trained at the Sowden Flanagan Baseball Academy over the winter, getting valuable training time that has already paid dividends.
“You could tell, with the kids being another year older and a lot of these kids training with us over the winter and just getting more reps has been huge for them,” Sowden said. “We have quite a few more 11-year-olds this year, and they’re a little older and more mature.
“We have kids who can throw strikes right away and aren’t as scared of the ball coming in at them, then we had a few nice plays in the field, which didn’t happen until the later half of the season. Their confidence is just a little higher and it shows… It was a really good start.”
The Moose Jaw Minor Baseball program will see two Mosquito teams in the Baseball Regina AA league this year: the Canucks and the Prairie Dogs, who are coached by Craig Flanagan alongside Moose Jaw baseball legend Charlie Meacher and Shawn Meacher.
“I expect they’re going to have a really good team, too, so we’re hoping to be in the upper half of the league this year and hopefully able to compete with everybody,” Sowden said. “We have a lot of games were packing in here in seven, eight weeks and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Prairie Dogs are up next, hosting the Blue Jays for a doubleheader at Gattinger Diamond on Saturday. The Canucks are back in action July 14 when they host the White Butte Broncos.
