Major Mavs remain perfect at Little League nationals

By JAMES TUBB on August 6, 2024.

The Medicine Hat U12AAA Major Mavs have continued their success at the Little League national championships.

The Major Mavs, playing as Team Alberta at the seven-team national tournament, picked up a pair of wins over the weekend to preserve a 5-0 record in the round robin. The Mavs beat Team Prairies 11-0 on Saturday and topped the host Kingston Colts 10-0 on Sunday.

Head coach Steve Russell says they had a full team effort in the wins.

“Everyone from top to bottom of the order, guys contributed and we were able to get timely hits against teams who, to a certain extent, struggled with our pitching and what we’re doing,” Russell said. “We stayed fairly focused, minimized the mistakes, the errors weren’t there, so that’s always good and we just continued rolling the way we have been.”

Beckham Sprunger led the Mavs’ offence on Saturday, with three hits and four RBIs, adding a run scored to his tally. Blake Harrison had two hits with two runs scored and Gavin Russell had two runs scored with a hit and an RBI.

Daxton Simpson started the game, working 2.2 innings with just one hit allowed and five punch-outs. Reid Pluta finished the game, recording two strikeouts and he also only allowed one hit, striking out two batters.

Pluta led the offence Sunday with two RBIs with a hit and a run scored. Burke Morrison got the Mavs on the board with a sac fly in the first inning, scoring the eventual winning run.

Jake Czember worked the entire game for the Mavs, recording a strikeout.

The Mavs were set to face Team Ontario on Monday to finish the round robin but that game was rained out.

They’ll face Ontario today to decide the No. 1 seed for the semifinals that get underway Wednesday.

A Mavs’ loss today and there would be a three-way tie with them, Ontario and Team B.C. for first. The decision would come down to runs against, with the Mavs giving up only three heading into play. Team B.C. has surrendered 10 and Ontario has given up 18.

Russell says they’re not focused on the specifics of how they could get first place, they’re just looking to win.

“We’re going to play tomorrow to definitely go after and get that win so that we can solidify first and ultimately have what we think is an easier route in the semis,” Russell said. “We’d get a team (Kingston) that we’ve seen, a team that we feel confident we can play well against and then let the guns blaze in the next round. God willing, we get there.”

The semifinals Wednesday are at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. MST with the finals set for Thursday.

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