Medicine Hat Mavericks pitchers Dylan Esquival and Casey Henderson celebrate after watching their team score a run in Game 3 of the Western Canadian Baseball League's championship series against the Okotoks Dawgs. Okotoks went on to win 13-5 for their second straight league title. - NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
The curtain fell just a bit too soon on Medicine Hat’s summer Cinderella story, but Medicine Hat Mavericks head coach Kevin Mitchell won’t be feeling the sting when he remembers his first year in the Western Canadian Baseball League.
Although Mitchell was left with a “sour feeling” following his team’s 13-5 loss to the now back-to-back WCBL champion Okotoks Dawgs on Thursday at Seaman Stadium, the Summit County, Colo. product says he couldn’t ask for a better summer experience.
“It’s unbelievable man, even this,” he said, looking over the cheering crowd as the Dawgs hoisted the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy into the air. “This is a sour feeling right now but this is an opportunity that few college baseball players get to have. I’m fortunate to be part of this organization, and for us to have made it this far, we’ve had a hell of a year and I’m proud of it.”
The Mavericks caught fire near the end of the regular season and closed out the campaign with a 30-26 record. The team then swept the Regina Red Sox in two games before upsetting the Moose Jaw Miller Express for the East Division title. But the late-summer night’s dream escaped Medicine Hat’s grasp in a winner-take-all final.
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to pull it out in Game 3, but we were gritty all season and we fought to the last out every game, so I can’t say enough about the team we’ve got,” said Mavericks outfielder Tory Nelson.
“If you look at us at the start of the season I don’t think anyone would have guessed we would have made it this far.”
But there is one person who never lost faith, says Nelson. When the Mavericks lost head coach Mark Goodman to a professional role in late June, it was Mitchell who stepped up to take the reins with a positive outlook and an unfaltering belief in his team’s potential to succeed.
“He believes in us more than anybody and I think that’s part of the reason we made it this far,” said Nelson. “I can’t say enough about him. He’s a great guy. Everybody has great relationships with him, he knows the game really well.”
Mitchell shifted the credit off himself and to the team’s overall mentality, suggesting it was their blue-collar approach to the game that paid dividends in the end.
“It was everybody pulling for each other and doing the little things well. We were all committed to a team approach,” said Mitchell. “It wasn’t anybody doing anything special, it was everybody doing their job. That takes some buying in. These guys all come from different schools with different philosophies but they came in here and did the job for each other. I think that’s what led to our success.”
The Mavericks will now part ways and head back to their respective school programs to embark on another season of baseball, and they’ll bring quite a story to tell their college teammates.
“We had a hell of a season and we just ran out of gas. It is what it is. The season only ends the right way for one team and unfortunately it wasn’t us,” he said.
“I love these guys. This has been a family.”
