UNITY — They came from across the province – including Swift Current, Wynyard, Cabri, Humboldt, Saskatoon and Kindersley – but it was the Maidstone Lakers and the Unity Cardinals who pulled off semifinal wins to get to the gold medal game, July 27. The Cardinals went undefeated through the tournament to emerge as provincial champions.
Maidstone and Unity were in the same pool for the round robin portion of the championships, which started in Unity July 25.
Unity started their games with a 14-0 win over the Swift Current 57s and a 13-3 win over the Wynyard Blues.
Maidstone also had a good start to the tournament, beating Swift Current 15-9 and Wynyard 6-0.
The two teams met in the last matchup of round robin play to determine first and second place in the pool. Although Unity had a 12-7 lead going into the sixth and final inning, hot Maidstone bats combined with a few fielding errors on Unity’s part led to a 12-12 tie at the end of the sixth.
Fans on both sides were on the edge of their seats as the game went into an extra inning. Maidstone was up to bat first and scored one run to make it 13-12 for the Lakers. With last bats, Unity was able to tie the game before Caleb Hoffman had an RBI to bring a runner home for the 14-13 win.
In the semifinals, Unity played the Kindersley Royals and won that game 15-5 to advance to the final.
Maidstone had a tougher route, meeting the Humboldt Dodgers in a game which also went to an extra inning. Humboldt held the lead through the early part of the game, 2-1 at the end of the first and 7-5 by the end of the fourth.
Maidstone was able to put up four runs in the fifth, to Humboldt’s one, to take a 9-8 lead going into the sixth inning. The score at the end of the sixth however was 11-11, meaning the boys were back on the field for a seventh inning.
The Dodgers were able to get a runner around to third base but were unable to score whilst the Lakers brought home four runners, giving them a 15-11 win and an advance to the gold medal game.
The rematch between the Unity Cardinals and Maidstone Lakers saw the Cardinals again take an early lead, ahead 6-0 at the end of the second.
Maidstone bounced back in the top of the third and scored three runs. Ty Regnier was up to bat, with the bases loaded and two out. Ty hit a hard, high ball right to the back of the field between centre and right. Fielder Maddox Clark back pedalled and leaned back enough to make the difficult – what one spectator described as “game-saving” – catch.
Unity didn’t score in the third, but got one run in in the fourth. Maidstone scored one run and the score was 7-3.
Maidstone was again able to close the gap in the fifth inning, bringing home three runners. Unity had one run and the score was 8-6 going into the sixth.
Maddox pitched the last inning and struck out Maidstone’s first batter. The infield was able to take out the next two, to cement the 8-6 win and the provincial championships.
Unity’s head coach, Cory Hoffman, said he knew they would have a good chance for the championship if the boys played well, which they did. “They played well as a team and really came together over the year. They were a very coachable group.” He added that they met Maidstone several times over the season and always had tough games with them.
He concluded by saying “it was a great weekend and the team played awesome.”
