MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Moose Jaw 18U AAA Canucks have found themselves in a bit of an up-and-down season in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League this spring, but it was all systems go this past weekend in Watford City, N.D.
The Canucks went undefeated on their way to winning the Doug Johnsrud Memorial Tournament, posting a 6-0 record in the American Legion event and racking up a handful of dominant victories in the process.
It was as positive an outcome as could be for the local squad, and ideally a nice springboard into success for the rest of the SPBL season.
“It was good,” said Canucks head coach Darryl Pisio. “As a Legion tournament you just never know how it’s going to turn out because most teams are going to have a couple of 19-year-olds who were playing college ball and come home to play with their summer team, so you never know the level you’re going to get. But the boys played really well.”
The Canucks opened the weekend with a 16-6 win over the Froid, Mont. Bulls before defeating the Watford City Walleye 13-4, Richland County, N.D. Patriots 8-0 and Lovell, N.D. Mustangs 9-2, finishing 4-0 in their round robin.
That sent the Canucks to the semifinal, where they’d have their closest game of the weekend in a 5-3 win over the Gillette, Wyo. Rage. Things were far more comfortable for the local squad in the title game, though, as Moose Jaw rolled to a 12-2 win over the Walleye to claim the championship.
Pisio pointed to the Canucks’ depth as one of the key factors in their success, with players contributing up and down the line-up.
“Whichever nine or 10 guys we had in the line-up, they were all contributing in some way or another,” he said. “It didn’t matter if it was a 1-2 guy at the plate or our 7-9 guys hitting the ball, everyone was getting on base and cashing in runs and that makes a big difference. So good on the guys for doing a great job all weekend.”
As one might expect with such a dominant showing, the tournament awards were dominated by the Canucks.
Nathan Pisio was named the tournament MVP, while Max Simmons took offensive MVP honours, Hunter Scott was named the pitching MVP and Gerritt Gulutzan was the player of the game in the final.
The Canucks now turn their attention to a busy weekend in the SPBL, as they’re in Estevan to face the South East Twins on Wednesday, host the Regina Athletics Friday (7 p.m., Ross Wells) and play a doubleheader against the Saskatoon Cubs (10 a.m., 1 p.m., Ross Wells) on Sunday.
The local squad is 5-5 on the SPBL season to sit in sixth place in the 14-team league, five games out of first while having as many as nine games in hand on some teams thanks to rainouts.
Moose Jaw will be taking the field this weekend with the hottest hitter in the SPBL, as Ty Reid was named one of the league’s Hitters of the Month after racking up a .588 average and 1.455 on base plus slugging percentage through the month of May.
“He kind of started out a little bit slow because of his schedule with hockey and other activities living in Assiniboia, but he’s been swinging a hot bat for awhile now and that’s great to see,” Pisio said. ”We have so many weapons who are all contributing.”
Keep up to date with all the news from the Canucks season by checking out their Facebook page 18UAAA.Canucks.SPBL.
