PHOTO COURTESY AIDAN NELSON
The Monsignor McCoy JV Colts captured the Southern Alberta High School Baseball Tier 1 championship Saturday with a 4-3 win over the Foothills Falcons.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Monsignor McCoy JV Colts went into provincials looking to get better with each game. Three wins later, they walked out with a gold medal.
The JV Colts swept their Tier 1 championship weekend, winning first place in the Southern Alberta High School Baseball League Tier 1 tournament after a 4-3 finals win over the Foothills Falcons on Saturday. It was a moment Colts’ starter James Cole, who pitched a complete game in the win, says he will never forget.
“It was awesome, that final pitch was probably the best moment in my baseball career,” Cole said. “It was just awesome, it’s an amazing feeling. And we’re provincial champs.”
Cole missed the Colts’ first two games of the weekend, an 11-5 win Friday over the Brooks Buffalos and a 17-14 win later that night over the undefeated Vauxhall Vikings to punch a finals ticket.
Cole says he saw a Colts team from the start of the season that could compete and were in tough against Brooks, who they lost to three times, and Vauxhall who beat them twice. He says they knew there were doubts about their ability to win it all but he says they knew they had enough compete to make it happen.
“It wasn’t looking too good kind of just to win our first game, everybody kind of thought that about us,” Cole said. “I was watching it all on Game Changer, we had really good games, it was probably the best games of our entire season and we’re going to the championship game. I’ll be there, let’s win it all. No one believes in us but let’s do it. I know we can, so let’s do it.”
He had five strikeouts in seven innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and a walk. All of the Falcons’ offence came from a three-run home run in the top of the third inning.
McCoy’s offence was led by Ethan Grad who had three this with a run scored and Nixon Kunkel who had an RBI double and a run scored. Liam Cunningham and Jayden Mook scored the other runs for the McCoy JV squad.
It was a win head coach Rob McDonnell says illustrated what a full team effort can produce.
“It’s just a great example of if everybody contributes, everybody pitches in and you have all 12 players pulling in the same direction, you can accomplish some amazing things,” McDonnell said. “Maybe just because everyone else doesn’t think that you’re going to accomplish a certain goal, doesn’t mean that you can’t accomplish it.
“I definitely don’t think that our group was the favourites at the beginning of the season, or even coming into the tournament. But they worked really hard and got better every day and improved at those little things. And they came through when it mattered the most.”
McDonnell tipped his cap to the teams they faced in the championship run.
“To earn three consecutive wins against really strong teams that are very well coached is an outstanding achievement for our young group of guys,” McDonnell said. “I am really happy for our guys to be rewarded for their efforts.”
McDonnell says Cole told him at the start of the season he likes being in pressure situations. The Grade 10 pitcher, who was named the Colts player of the game in the finals, says he felt the nerves heading into the seventh inning with a one-run lead and three outs between them and a championship. He says he just focused like it was any other game.
“OK, I’m nervous but it’s time, just get the three outs, it’s like the first inning, that was my mindset,” Cole said. “This is like the first inning, just take it like any other game. I went out there and I just kind of pitched my pitches, knew what worked with me and I guess luck turned on my side.”
Against Brooks, Kunkel threw a complete game, allowing just one hit with two walks and nine strikeouts. Owen Fisher had three hits with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Dylan Nelson had a hit and two RBIs. Kunkel, who was the Colts player of the game, helped his own cause with a hit and two runs scored.
Cunningham, Tegin Stienley and Kylan Mailhiot each chipped in with a hit, a run and an RBI.
In their win over Vauxhall, Cunningham there 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts, and Mook worked 1.2 frames earning the win. Grad recorded the final two outs for the save, sending the Colts to the finals.
Cunningham helped his cause at the plate with three hits, including a double and five runs batted in. Grad had three hits of his own, including two doubles and scoring three runs. Dylan Nelson had two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored, and Kunkel had two hits, two runs and an RBI to round out the McCoy JV offence.
Eagle Butte hosted the tournament and finished third, beating the Buffaloes 17-3 in the third-place game Saturday.
McDonnell says he enjoyed the season and working with the group they had before the championship and he will enjoy it even more with a new banner to hang at the school.
“You don’t accomplish goals like this without outstanding people, and I just feel blessed to work with the group of players and coaches and families that we got to work with this year,” McDonnell said. “It was a really enjoyable experience. I said before the tournament, regardless of the outcome, we felt that way. And just kind of icing on the cake to see our guys be rewarded the way they were.”
