And in a sign that things are looking awfully good for local baseball in the future, it was the Moose Jaw Prairie Dogs they had to defeat to do so.
The Canucks put up six runs with two outs in the fourth inning on their way to a 10-1 victory over the Prairie Dogs at Vanstone Diamond, capping a campaign that saw both Moose Jaw clubs dominate the league from start to finish.
In the end, though, someone had to win. And the Canucks came up with as solid a performance as they’ve had all season when they needed it the most.
“The best part about this is we have two Moose Jaw teams in the final, and to coach this group of kids, my goodness, they played a heck of game,” said Canucks coach Shane Sowden. “We threw strikes, we made plays, we threw runners out, we hit the ball… a two-out rally to score six runs? That’s something else.”
The Prairie Dogs drew first blood when the second batter of the game, Dillon Flanagan, reached base and came around to score. After Dogs starter Ronan Tonge shut the Canucks down in their half, it could have been time for concern.
But the Canucks had Max Craig on the mound, and he wasn’t about to let things get away without a fight.
“Any team that’s against Max starting and he’s throwing strikes, you’re going to be in tough to score runs,” lauded Prairie Dogs coach Craig Flanagan. “But the guys had some good at bats, we hit some balls hard and they made some plays.”
Craig wouldn’t allow a baserunner past first the rest of the game, with catcher Luke Pratte again gunning down a couple of runners on the basepaths to hold the Dogs in check.
The Canucks would get on the board with three runs in the second and extend their lead to 4-1 in the third before putting together the aforementioned fourth-inning rally to take control of the game.
“I’ve never had a group of kids this young be this mentally tough,” Sowden said. “We got a tiny bit rattled when we were down 1-0 and they were frustrated they didn’t score in the first inning, but they regrouped and have been positive all year. If you can get a group of kids that have short memories and don’t freak out, it makes it a lot easier and it was a lot of fun coaching this group.”
James Howe would reach base three times for the Canucks and score a pair of runs, while Ramsey Thompson – who closed out the win after Craig ran up against the pitch limit – crossed the plate twice. Mac Sowden also reached base three times and scored a run.
For the Prairie Dogs, the loss was tough, but if ever there was a team that could leave the diamond with their heads held high after a loss, it was their crew.
“I’m really proud of the guys. They’re a really well-coached team with Shane and they actually did play a really good game today, they made some nice plays behind Max,” Flanagan said.
“It was an encouraging year, there was improvement throughout the line-up on this team and when the boys left the field today they were pretty proud of themselves even though it wasn’t the results we wanted.”
Sowden felt much the same way.
“All around, no one should feel disappointed today, it was a great season and great for baseball in Moose Jaw.”
