NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
McCoy Colts' Evan Morrison celebrates with teammate Cole Rath (5) after sliding safely into home in the fifth inning of the Southern Alberta High School Baseball League championship game against the Hat High Mohawks on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at Athletic Park.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
It had all the makings of a local championship game – lead changes, loud outs, blazing summer heat and enough drama to get the palms sweating.
The McCoy Colts rallied to a 10-7 victory in eight innings to repeat as Southern Alberta High School Baseball League champions in a rematch from last year’s final against the Hat High Mohawks on Wednesday night at Athletic Park. While the win didn’t come without its struggles – as McCoy was forced to claw back from two separate deficits over the course of the game – Colts head coach Intek Hong says that’s to be expected in a wildly competitive championship game between cross-river rivals.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. The way we’ve been playing lately, we like to come from behind,” said Hong. “That’s kind of been the theme of the season. There’s just no quit in these guys. Us coaches can say whatever we can, but at the end of the day it’s those 14 guys, they don’t quit.
“Whether we’re up or down, they’re not quitting, they know we’re better. That was a heck of a fight by all of them and I couldn’t be more proud.”
With just two outs left on the season, the Colts rallied to erase a one-run deficit in the seventh on an RBI error off the bat of Reese Whelen before stealing away a three-run lead in the eighth. Whelen – who pitched the final six innings – then returned to the hill and slammed the door shut for the title.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words, but I’m really proud to be part of this program,” said Whelen, whose Colts rallied to erase a five-run deficit on the Vauxhall Vikings in final inning of their semifinal. “I’m just really proud of our team for the way that we played and the way we were able to pull out these victories.”
McCoy struck for the early lead when Whelen drove in Cole Rath on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning, but the Mohawks immediately responded on the sticks.
First Felix Miller sent Kayden Hleucka across the plate with an RBI double to centre field then Kobe Coderre took over a 2-1 lead with a single down the line that just evaded the outstretched glove of Colts first baseman Kayden Berndt.
Drew Niwa flipped the scoreboard back in McCoy’s favour with a loud RBI double in the top of the third inning – driving in Whelen and Joel Herron with a line drive off the left-centre field wall to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
“We knew we had more fight than them. We knew we were going to win the game,” said Niwa, who played for Hat High last year. “That makes it like 10 times nicer, except I know how bad they’re probably feeling right now.”
The back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth when Miller set things back to even on an RBI single to left-centre, but McCoy answered right back in a wild top of the fifth.
After loading up the bases with none out, Mohawks pitcher Aidan Rissling managed to put himself within a strike of the dugout before allowing a go-ahead RBI walk to Wyatt Study. Rissling got the pop-up he needed to escape the frame on the ensuing batter, but a miscommunication with the first baseman resulted in a two-run error – leaving the Mohawks staring down a three-run deficit with nine outs to work with.
Hat High shrugged off the error and went back to work at the dish, cutting the deficit down to a pair on an RBI triple from Josh Stark in the fifth, then tying the game on back-to-back RBI doubles from Coderre and Street in the sixth.
Street then took third on a wild pitch and Tory Nelson drove him home with a shot through the infield to take over a narrow lead.
“We’ve been back and forth all year,” Whelen said of McCoy’s rivalry with Hat High. “Outside the diamond you always hear the people chirping back and forth and stuff. It feels really good. We just really wanted it. We weren’t going to let them have it. It felt great because it’s a team that you always want to beat.”
With their season hanging in the balance, the Colts again dug in and responded. After forcing extras on Whelen’s RBI error, McCoy loaded up the bases in the eighth, then Peyton Cox drove in a pair on an infield single and Rath added another for good measure on a base hit to right.
“I was ecstatic,” said Whelen, who collected the win after holding the Mohawks to five runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts. “I was jumping up and down. That was just so clutch and so great of our team to be able to pull through with that. We’ve been big with that all year, coming up with those big hits in pressure situations.”
Miller settled for the loss after allowing four runs on three hits through the final two innings.
Mohawks head coach Lyall Foran refused comment following the game.
On Saturday, Maple Creek won the league’s Tier 2 title game, 14-3 over Crescent Heights.
