Maple Creek Wins Midget A Provincials

The Maple Creek Red Sox took the long road to the Provincial Championsip final but when it was all said and done, the Red Sox earned the right to be called Provincial Champions.

Maple Creek opened the tournament Saturday with a 7-0 victory over Kindersley, then dropped a tough 6-5 decision to the Moose Jaw Canucks, where they at one point led the game 4-0. Having to win their last game of the round robin in order to advance into the play-off round Maple Creek got a masterful pitching performance out of Houston Doig enabling Maple Creek to defeat Outlook 3-1. This forced a tie breaker game against the same Moose Jaw Canucks where the winner would move on to the semi-finals. The Red Sox started fast, scored early and often while Moose Jaw could not solve Maple Creek’s pitcher, Dalton Kaake en route to a 17-5 victory. Kaake, Chris Stimson, and Craig Fournier all had multiple hit games to pace the attack while Evan Schneider had a hit as well.

The semi-final pitted the Red Sox against the 1^st place team in the other pool, the Saskatoon Cardinals. Maple Creek chipped away with runs in the 1^st, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th before Saskatoon scored their first run in the 6^th with Maple Creek walking away with a 5-1 victory. Cody Marshall pitched a complete game gem while Dyson Stevenson, Tanner Doig, and Thabo Mthembu all had hits for Maple Creek.

The final had Pilot Butte and Maple Creek squaring off and in the bottom of the first inning Pilot Butte struck first scoring on a sacrifice bunt and throwing error by Maple Creek. Maple Creek came alive in the second inning scoring 5 runs and followed that up in the third inning by scoring 3 more taking a commanding 8-1 lead after three innings. Maple Creek then rode the arm of Mitchell Taylor the rest of the way until the 7^th inning where Taylor Heck closed out the game with a 1-2-3 7^th. Blake Fournier and Trey Hintz had hits for Maple Creek.

Coach Jack Cameron: Our success in this tournament was a total team effort. Every player had a hand in our success at one point or another this weekend whether it was our great pitching, timely hitting, or excellent defensive play. I am proud of the boys.