For the first time since 2005, the North Battleford Midget AA Beavers are provincial champions.
The Beavers concluded a perfect weekend as tournament hosts in style Sunday afternoon at Beaver Lions Stadium as they cruised to a 12-0 win over the Humboldt Dodgers to capture the Midget AA Tier 1 title.
“It's an unreal feeling,” Jared Schmidt said. “We've been waiting a long while for this.
“We were hoping that this year would be the year and we did it.”
After winning in dramatic fashion all weekend long, the Beavers took control of the championship game early with a five-run first inning.
Gavin Nolin got things started with a two-run double. Joel Rivet and Brett Benoit both had RBI singles while Schmidt brought home a run with a triple.
“They went right at them from the start,” Beavers coach Michael Hudec said. “Once they got the lead they kept the pedal to the medal and they weren't going to let up.
“It was important to us to get a jump on them early,” Schmidt said. “All weekend long our starts hadn't been quite as good as we would have liked and this was the game where we needed to come through, which we did.”
As the Beavers continued to rack up the runs, Schmidt was impressive on the mound as he pitched a complete game shutout.
He ended the game in style by striking out Tyson Earis and was immediately mobbed by his teammates as the celebration began.
“The defence was great behind me and that was a big help for what I was able to do out there,” Schmidt said. “I usually just try to pound the zone and keep the hitters off balance with the different pitches that I have.
“Jared's been a good pitcher for us all year and when he's on the top of his game he's hard to match up against,” Hudec said. “He came to play and everyone on the team did all weekend long.”
While the championship game was a walk in the park, the road to the final had a number of twists and turns.
The Beavers were the top team in the round-robin with a 3-0 record with all of their wins coming in dramatic circumstances.
After falling behind 4-0 to the Regina Blue Jays in their tournament opener Friday, the hosts scored seven unanswered runs to pick up the victory.
They scored six runs in the sixth inning Saturday morning to beat the Lumsden Cubs 7-5 and followed that up with five-run sixth inning in the evening to defeat the Dodgers 8-4.
“We've had three walk-off wins in the regular season so we're used to being in those situations,” Nolin said after Saturday's win over Humboldt.
“It builds confidence for all of us. We know that we can play better through the whole game but we know that we have what it takes to come through in the late innings, especially in the playoffs.”
The Beavers used that experience Sunday morning in a wild semifinal game against the Cubs.
After taking a 2-0 lead early, the Cubs scored four runs to take the lead in the fourth inning but not without a bit of controversy.
Tristan Oschanney made contact with Beavers catcher Paul Cubbon on a play at the plate that gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead, which led to a lengthy debate between both coaching staffs and the umpires as to if the run should have counted.
“In past games when a player collided with our catcher they had been ejected from the game,” Hudec explained. “From our point of view, we felt like the offensive player obstructed our catcher on that play.
“We lost that appeal but that's a challenge we'd make again.”
The Beavers didn't let that issue affect them, however, as they clawed their way back in the bottom of the sixth inning as Schmidt hit a two-run single to give the hosts a 5-4 lead.
The Cubs wouldn't go away quietly though, as Travis Gerrard brought home two runs on a single with two outs to move his team back out in front 6-5.
As they had done all weekend, the Beavers refused to quit. They loaded the bases with no outs and Andrew Hudec hit a RBI single to tie the game up again.
A couple of plays later, Gerrard's pitch skipped past the Cubs catcher and Dylan Schaefer raced home from third base to give the Beavers a 7-6 win.
“Once the ball went past their catcher I was gone,” Schaefer said. “It was all a blur for me after that. I don't even remember if I slid into home or not.
“The game was so inconsistent with all of the changes in momentum but everyone was staying positive on the bench. We were all keep each other going on the bench and we were ready for anything.”
The Beavers are now getting ready to represent the province at the Western Canadian Midget AA Baseball Championships, which will be held in Sherwood Park, Alta. from August 12-14.
“We just need to keep doing what we've been doing all year,” Schmidt said. “We are going to be staying with the same routing like we have all season.
“Plus will get a bit of rest before we got going again. I know a lot of us have some pretty sore arms after all of the pitching we've done this weekend.”
Coach Hudec said there are discussions to have an exhibition game with the North Battleford Senior Beavers team prior to heading to Sherwood Park.
A date and time for that contest, which would also be a fundraiser for the Midget AA Beavers, is still in the works.
