The Moose Jaw All Stars are heading back to the Little League Canadian Championship.
The All Stars clinched their berth on Monday night thanks to a 10-0 mercy rule win over North Regina in Game 4 of the provincial championship at Gamble Diamond, giving the local squad a three-games-to-one victory in the best-of-five series.
As a result, Moose Jaw will once again be the Prairie representative at Canadians from Aug. 1-10 in Regina.
“This was the goal from the start,” said All Stars coach Scott Nielsen. “That’s what I told the boys before the game, our whole goal was to get to Canadians and now we’re going to have fun and represent Moose Jaw.”
The big win was a rebound for the All Stars, as they’d dropped an 8-1 decision to North Regina in Game 3 after taking a 12-1 victory in Game 1 and winning 7-1 in Game 2.
“The first two games they came out and played how they were supposed to, but the third game, I think maybe they thought they had it in the bag and they learned a lesson,” Nielsen said. “I told them nobody wins a championship without losing some games, and they bounced back and were ready to go today.”
The All Stars only scored a single run in the first inning, but after that they were off to the races. A five-run second put them in control, four more runs in the fourth put the mercy rule in play and they’d finish things off with the shutout.
Taylor Usher got the job done on the mound, pitching all five innings and allowing only seven baserunners throughout the night.
Most of Moose Jaw’s offensive production came from the bottom of the order, as Glenn Drummond, Jacob Warren and Grayden Mowrey scored two runs each while hitting ninth, 10th and 12th respectively. Burke Bechard also reached base three times and scored a run.
Now the focus turns to nationals in just over a week’s time.
Based on how things went in tournament play in the lead-up to provincials, Nielsen is hoping his crew will be in the hunt.
“We should compete at Canadians, we’ll be the underdogs, but you never know what can happen,” he said. “We went to Alberta for quite a few tournaments and our last one was in Lethbridge, we battled really hard and were within a couple of runs of the top teams there. So it’s going to be a really good Canadians for these kids.”
It certainly won’t hurt that the tournament is a mere 45 minutes east, with the All Stars certain to see incredible fan support as a result.
“We’re going to have a huge turnout from Moose Jaw, we’re going to have tons of fans there, even more than (2022 in) Calgary, so it’s going to be fun,” Nielsen said. “I’m excited, the kids are excited and we’re looking forward to it.”
