The Moose Jaw Canucks picked bad time for an off game.
In a tiebreaker at the Saskatchewan Baseball Midget A provincials, the Canucks had a nightmare first few innings and never recovered, losing 17-5 to Maple Creek.
“It was not a good day. We lost 17-5 and gave up three earned runs,” said Canucks coach Mark Mann.
“We gave up four runs in the first inning on three errors and then we gave four more runs in the second on three more errors. Then we gave up five in the third.”
The Canucks have had a bad knack for not being sharp defensively in big games this season. Errors cost them in a tournament semifinal in Saskatoon earlier in the year and again in their league playoff against Melville.
“It was the same thing, we came up flat and made a few errors,” said Mann. “We just can’t seem to pull the trigger on the big games this year.”
The Canucks finished pool play with a 2-1 record which left them in a three-way tie with Outlook and Maple Creek in their pool. Maple Creek won the pool because they allowed fewer runs which left Outlook and the Canucks to play off.
The Canucks opened the tournament in Maple Creek with a 4-2 loss to Outlook. They rebounded with a fantastic 6-5 come-from-behind win over Maple Creek.
“We battled back and forth and were down 5-3 going into the seventh,” said Mann.
The Canucks tied the game and had Braden North on second base. North stole third and then with two out and two strikes to Daniel Markewich, the Canucks pulled off a gutsy suicide squeeze to get North home and give them the win.
“That was probably the best game of the tournament that we played,” said Mann.
The Canucks beat Kindersley 11-5 to force the tiebreak.
