Mohawks, Colts through to final

By Sean Rooney on May 26, 2018.

In the end it’ll be the matchup everyone expected in the Southern Alberta High School Baseball League’s Tier 1 final, but darned if the Brooks Buffalos didn’t try to spoil the party.

The Buffalos put up seven runs in the second inning of a semifinal against Monsignor McCoy Friday at Athletic Park, but the Colts were up to the challenge and came through with a 10-9 win.

McCoy put up six in their half of the second and tacked on runs in the next two innings before holding on late.

McCoy will face Hat High’s Mohawks, who dominated Vauxhall’s Vikings 10-2 in the afternoon’s other semi, in Saturday’s 1 p.m. final.

“It’s been a real battle with them all year, they’ve been our biggest competition,” said the Mohawks’ Tory Nelson. “I feel confident, our whole team feels confident going in to tomorrow

“Hopefully we end the season on a win.”

Vauxhall beat Notre Dame in one quarter-final, while Brooks got by Eagle Butte 14-5 in the other. McCoy and Hat High had byes through to the semis by virtue of having the league’s top two regular season records.

Hat High won the first head-to-head meeting between the rivals, but McCoy has claimed the last two decisions and will also be hungry, having not played in the league the last few years.

The Mohawks wasted no time taking it to Vauxhall, scoring three runs in the first and two in the second. Aggressive baserunning kept them scoring at least one run every frame after that, penalizing seemingly every Vikings walk by stealing second.

On the flipside, no Hat pitcher threw more than 40 pitches, leaving the entire bullpen available for the final. The Mohawks closed the win with a 1-6-3 double play.

“For us, when you’re in a provincial or tournament setting you always want to be conscientious of pitching,” said Hat coach Lyall Foran. “When it comes down to that championship game, we felt that if we were able to get a lead that we would be able to rotate our pitchers in.”

Vauxhall had been no-hit by the Mohawks earlier this year so taking the game seven innings was a bit of an achievement. So, too, was getting past Notre Dame earlier.

“We had a good season, from what we started off as,” said Vikings coach Jaden Odland. “It was a huge improvement, I’m proud of them.”

Earlier Friday, the host Talons were only down 6-5 to Brooks before the Buffalos picked up steam on offence.

“We had a great start today,” said Talons coach Chad Martin. “This was by far one of our best games we played all year. We took care of the baseball for the most part. Beau Blackmen did a great job for us on the hill.

“They started hitting the ball in the later innings and that’s what happens. We’d rather see them hit the ball then have us kick it around and walk guys.”

Graduating player Eric Lust was one of just three Grade 12’s on the Talons and was proud of his side’s effort.

“We didn’t really beat ourselves this game which was good,” said Lust. “We made them earn everything they got.”