NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat third baseman Zach Ferguson transfers the ball to his throwing hand before recoridng an out at first during a UCT Tournament semifinal game against Calgary Stride on Saturday at McCoy Field.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Medicine Hat’s American Legion Baseball players hit the field for their first hometown tournament in two years this the weekend, and the Red squad nearly left with a championship.
After going 2-1 in the round robin, Medicine Hat Red took a 10-1 win from Calgary Stride to punch its ticket to the UCT 18U Tournament final – but they were unable to cap a late comeback in a 10-5 loss to the Vauxhall Spurs.
“Last year we didn’t get a home tournament so this one was all the more special,” said coach Cole Schreiber. “We would have liked to have come out on top, but I think we can be proud of what we accomplished this year. If you look at our pool (Medicine Hat Red, Vauxhall, Calgary Bucks White, Calgary Mustangs), I’m thinking there’s a lot of people who didn’t think we’d be here.”
Rather than forming the AA Monarchs and A Knights, Medicine Hat American Legion Baseball split players up evenly into Red and Blue squads.
Red picked up an 11-1 win over the Mustangs to open the tournament on Saturday and a 13-3 victory over the Bucks Sunday, dropping their lone game of the round robin in a 3-2 battle with Vauxhall.
“That Vauxhall team is a heck of a team. Their shortstop played incredible all year,” said Schreiber. “There’s just something in that water when it comes to swinging the bats, but we gave ourselves a chance.”
Medicine Hat Blue missed out on playoff action after going 0-3 in the round robin, losing 11-7 to the Calgary Bucks Black, 11-5 to the Lethbridge Miners and 11-9 loss to Calgary Stride.
