In a season that had already seen plenty of success, it came as little surprise when the Moose Jaw Minor AAA Miller Express went into the North Regina Little League playoffs as the tournament favourite.
And much like their Western Canadian Baseball League counterparts, a combination of big bats and solid pitching led to some impressive results.
The Express won both their playoff games this week after finishing in first place in the NRLL standings, claiming the league title on Saturday morning with a 10-8 victory over the Regina River Bandits.
“The kids worked hard for it all year and everything came together for them at the end, I couldn’t ask for much more from them,” said Millers head coach Scott Nielsen. “They just came on at the end of the season and finished how they had to, and I’m just super proud of how well they played.”
After putting together the best regular-season record, the Express received a bye through the first round. They ended up facing the Regina Cannon Ballers in the semifinal and battled to a 9-8 victory. After the River Bandits took a 6-3 win over the Ballers in their ‘B’ side match-up, it was off to the title game and another close battle.
Despite the high score, Nielsen felt his pitching was a major key to their success, especially late in the contest as Moose Jaw fought to hold their lead.
“Managing our pitching was really important, my assistant coach Dustin Usher did a great job with them and our pitching finished things off really well,” Nielsen said. “We had a lot of pitchers this year and that sure helped us out. A lot of kids could throw strikes so that was a big thing for us.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that despite being a group of eight- and nine-year-olds, the Express found a way to keep an even keel even when things got a little rough at times.
“They sure kept their composure this year, that was a really big thing,” Nielsen said. “There were some struggles early in the year but they held it together. Kids that age can get down on themselves, but this week they didn’t at all, they kept positive and kept going and pushed right to the end.”
The majority of the North Regina champions will now move on to play for the Little League Minor All-Star squad, and Nielsen expects the crew will have a good chance at doing well at that level as well.
“It would be nice,” he said. “We have a good group of boys and I think we should have a really good shot there, too.”
For the latest on Moose Jaw Little League, check out their website at www.mjlittleleague.com and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/moosejawlittleleague.
