The Moose Jaw All Stars are one game away from reaching the Little League World Series.
The Prairie representatives scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning against Calgary West and would go on to a 5-2 victory in the Canadian Little League Regional semifinal in Calgary on Thursday afternoon.
They’ll face the winner of undefeated British Columbia and the hosts from Rocky Mountain Little League in the championship final on Friday at 11 a.m. from Rose Diamond in Stanley Park.
There was little question who the star of the show was on Thursday.
Starting pitcher Dillon Flanagan turned in an absolutely stellar performance in his team’s biggest game of the tournament thus far, scattering seven hits and striking out three while going the distance for the win.
His offence wasted little time getting things going, as Luke Pratte took the second pitch he saw from Alberta into the gap in left centre for a double, and two batters later Neal Kohl doubled to the right centre gap to bring home Pratte with the game’s first run.
A towering fly ball off the bat of Emery Schoenroth brought home Kohl from third when a trio of Calgary outfielders got crossed up and had the ball drop in no-man’s land.
Flanagan had plenty of support from his defence early on, too, with a diving catch at third by Kaiden Gadd. A double by Calgary got a runner in scoring position, though, and they’d score their first run one batter later on a base hit to right, but Flanagan would escape without any further damage.
Calgary got runners in scoring position in the second inning on three straight balls that didn’t even reach the pitcher’s mound, but a line-out to Nigel Legare at first would end the threat.
After Moose Jaw went quietly in the top of the third, Calgary got the lead-off runner on board, but Flanagan would strike out the next two batters and get a ground out to second to end any kind of threat.
Back-to-back two-out base hits by Gadd and Jackson Boyle got a runner in scoring position for Moose Jaw in the fourth, but Gadd would be caught stealing to cap off the inning.
There things stood until the bottom of the fifth, when a single and double down the line got the tying and go-ahead runs to second and third, and a fly ball to right field would bring home the tying run. The All Stars picked off the runner going to third on the play, though, escaping further damage.
Moose Jaw nearly got the lead-off hitter on board to start the top of the sixth, but a diving catch in centre field would rob Luke Turner of a sure double. That would just be a sign of things to come, as Schoenroth and Stanhope hit back-to-back singles to get a runner in scoring position and Gadd would come through with the biggest hit of the game, a double to left field that brought Schoenroth home with the go-ahead run.
Zaid Guillaume then came up with a two-out triple off the top of the centrefield wall to score Gadd, and a wild pitch would bring him home with Moose Jaw’s fifth run.
Flanagan left nothing to chance in the bottom of the inning, getting a pop-out to Turner at shortstop, striking out the next batter and perfectly fielding a bunt and firing to first for the final out.
The Canadian Little League Regional championship final will be broadcast nationwide on CBC and streamed on CBC.ca, with the first pitch at 11 a.m.
