VICTORIA -- The Moose Jaw All Stars knew they were in for some exceptionally tough competition at the Canadian Little League Championship this week, and that’s exactly what they’ve found.
The level of teams they faced through their first two games, combined with no shortage of bad luck, sees the Prairie representatives sitting at 0-2 through two days of competition in Victoria, B.C..
Moose Jaw opened the event with 14-2 defeat at the hands of Ontario representative High Park on Tuesday before dropping a 16-0 decision to host Layritz Little League in their second contest on Wednesday.
As a result, they’ll need to find their game and string together a whole bunch of wins over the next few days in order to have a shot at the playoff round.
Moose Jaw has Thursday off to regroup before facing Alberta at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Atlantic at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Quebec at 3 p.m. Sunday and host B.C. at 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
The top four teams advance to the semifinals on Wednesday, with the championship game at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
High Park 14, Moose Jaw 2
It was a decent start for the All Stars in the opening inning, as after falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first they were able to quickly get a run back.
Hudson McGonigal hit a single in Moose Jaw’s first at bat of the tournament, Ollie Waddington dropped a sacrifice bunt to move him to second and Jordan Scory would single to centre to bring McGonigal home with their opening run.
Unfortunately for the local squad, things turned sour not long after.
High Park would send 16 batters to the plate the next inning, racking up 10 runs to build a 12-1 lead.
The All Stars got one back in the bottom of the second when Beau Beddow was hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score on a Lincoln Magnus single, but they’d get no closer.
High Park added another two runs in the third and the game would be called after four innings due to the 10-up-after-four mercy rule.
Scory ended up with two of Moose Jaw’s six hits, Vaughn Thibeault hit a double and Landon Vanbocquestal had their other knock.
McGonigal started on the mound and allowed 10 runs on seven hits over 1 ⅔, walking three. Magnus tossed 1 ⅓ innings and gave up four runs on five hits, Larkin Elder held High Park to only two hits in the final inning.
Baxter Gayton was 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI for Ontario, Oliver Biggart had three runs batted in.
Daniel Smith went the distance to earn the win, striking out four.
Layritz 16, Moose Jaw 0
It was as tough a start as there could be for Moose Jaw in their second contest.
Layritz scored seven runs with one out in the first inning, culminating with a grand slam to make 10-0 before the All Stars had even stepped to the plate.
The tournament hosts would tack on three more runs in the second and another three in the fourth to secure the mercy-rule win.
Moose Jaw had runners in scoring position in each inning but couldn’t find a way to break through. Waddington hit a one-out double in the first, Easton Gray singled and eventually reached third in the second, Magnus reached second on a error in the third and McGonigal drew a lead-off walk and ended up stranded at third in the fourth.
The All Stars had only three hits on the afternoon, with Magnus picking up their other knock.
Thibeault started for Moose Jaw and allowed the 10 runs on eight hits, Max Young took over in the second and went three, giving up five runs on six hits. Scory closed things out, giving up a single hit in the final inning.
Box score details were unavailable for Layrtiz.
Other scores Tuesday saw B.C. defeat Quebec 18-0 and Alberta down Atlantic 13-2. Other scores Wednesday had Quebec defeat Ontario 5-1 with B.C. to face Alberta in the evening game.
