NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Monsignor McCoy Colts pitcher Caleb Garrecht strides towards the plate with a pitch in the top of the sixth inning in the Colts' 5-2 provincial semi-finals win in Medicine Hat against the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The city of Medicine Hat’s high school baseball talent flexed its muscles Thursday night.
The Medicine Hat High Hawks and Monsignor McCoy Colts both won their provincials semifinal games and will face each other in the provincial finals for the second straight year.
Hat High beat the Kate Andrews Pride 15-7 at Jeffries field in a contest head coach Cam Rittinger says is closer than the scoreboard shows.
“The final score maybe doesn’t tell the tale of the tape with how well the team over there played tonight,” Rittinger said. “For the first five, six innings it was a really close ballgame, kind of back and forth, they’d score two runs, we’d score two runs, kind of back and forth. So the win feels good but I know for a little bit they had us on our heels.”
The Hawks’ win was led by Ryler Straarup’s three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Koby Eskestrand added two RBIs on two hits and Parker Hunt had three RBIs, two runs scored and one hit. Cade Harrison started the game and pitched 1.1 innings with three strikeouts before Trevin Ressler worked the final 5.1 innings with 10 strikeouts.
Across the park, the Colts battled the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams in a closer match, winning 5-2.
Colts head coach Cole Schreiber says it was a team win with his pitchers leading the way.
“It was fantastic to beat a team who beat us in the regular season and then to come out on top tonight was huge for us as a team and everybody contributed all the way through,” Schrieber said. “Caleb Garrett and Kane Olinsky, I can’t say enough about them on the mound, they were fantastic.
“But we had the big hit tonight when we needed it. We found a way to push a couple in late and really hung on for the win. Everybody did something tonight to help the team win, defensively we were great, offensively we had enough and our pitchers did the job, so a great team win.”
Olinsky started the game and pitched five innings with three strikeouts before Garrecht took over and picked up the save with two clean innings with two strikeouts. Seven different Colts registered a hit with Fischer Haysom having two in the win.
The provincial finals will take place some time next week as the Hawks look to repeat as champions and the Colts look for revenge after falling in last year’s finals.
“Last year people would argue both teams were really tight, we split the season series,” Schreiber said about Hat High. “This year we’re coming in as the underdog. We like the opportunity, we’ve been there before and our guys are going to have confidence in themselves and I think we have what it takes to come out on top.”
“We know what to expect on the mound, in the field, on the sticks, we know the kind of hitters they are and they know the kind of the hitters we are,” Rittinger said.
“There’s a little more comfortability playing them, but adding that little rivalry between schools is always a positive. It brings out the fans, brings out kids from the schools and even past players who hear about the provincials and it just does more for the game in Medicine Hat and shows we have a lot of good ballplayers here.”
