Regina, Okotoks to play in WCBL final
By Medicine Hat News on August 15, 2019.
The Regina Red Sox relied on their ace to get to the Western Canadian Baseball League finals, which means he’s not likely to see another inning if they wind up as champions. On home field for the deciding Game 3 of their WCBL semifinals against Swift Current Wednesday, Regina won 2-0 on the strength of a complete game four-hitter from Michael Batten. Batten, a senior from Florida, is now 10-0 this summer with a 1.45 earned run average. He struck out 13 of the 57’s batters, walked nobody and only had one runner get past first base. Tyler Murphy was almost as good for Swift Current, striking out eight in seven innings and also letting up four hits. But Erik Crossman’s single in the second was compounded by a two-base error, and he scored on a wild pitch for what wound up as the winning run in front of an announced crowd of 850 at Currie Field. Samuel De La Cruz walked, stole second and scored on a Riki DeSa single in the third for the other run of the night. Regina, whose 41-15 regular season record beat 40-15 Okotoks by a half-game (the Dawgs had a July 3 game against Weyburn cancelled due to weather), now gets home field advantage against the Dawgs in the best-of-three finals which start tonight. Okotoks swept Lethbridge with wins of 5-1 and 4-3 Monday and Tuesday. 8-7
