UNITY — The Unity Cardinals forced an extra inning in the North Saskatchewan River Baseball league championship final game in Wilkie, Aug. 6, when the game was tied 5-5 at the end of the seventh inning, but it was the North Battleford Beavers who scored to win the league championship for the third time in a row.
The Cardinals, using Wilkie Regional Park this season as their home field is under reconstruction, won the first game of the best-of-three series 5-4 in Wilkie July 28. The Beavers, on their home field in game two, won that one 5-2 July 30.
The scene was set for an exciting third and final game in Wilkie between the two teams which finished first (Unity) and second (North Battleford) in the league following the regular season. Unity had lost only one game – to the Lashburn Cardinals – while the Beavers had lost two, both to Unity.
There was a good crowd, close to 150 total, lining both sides of the infield in anticipation of the showdown.
The championship final’s first inning ended quickly, with no score: three up, three down for the Beavers whilst the Cardinals got four batters up with one runner getting to second base.
Connor Neave had a base hit in the second and scored on an RBI by Kyle Palmer whilst the Cardinals remained scoreless. At the end of the third, the score was still 1-0 for the visitors.
Neave and Palmer repeated their feats of the second inning to end the top of the fourth ahead 2-0. Thomas Snell had a great inning for the Cardinals, bringing home Kaden Cey on his base hit and getting around the bases himself on a RBI by Garin Scherr. Scherr’s hit almost put the Unity team ahead but Tommy Feser was called out at home plate and then ejected from the game for arguing with the call by umpire Ray Smith of Lloydminster.
With the score tied 2-2, the Beavers scored two runs quickly at the top of the fifth inning, Skyler Dimmick and Andrew Hudec coming home on RBIs from Gavin Nolin and Bryce Gatzke. The Cardinals responded with two runs of their own, Andrew Feser and Braden Polreis scoring on RBIs by Tanner Huber and Kaden Cey.
With no scoring in the sixth inning, the seventh inning started with the 4-4 tie. Nolin came home on a hit by Gatzke to make it 5-4 for the Beavers. The Cardinals responded with Polreis scoring and Snell getting credit for another RBI. An extra inning was required.
With daylight starting to fade, runners were placed on second base to start the inning. Palmer scored for the Beavers on an RBI by M. Hudec to end the top of the eighth 6-5. This time, the Cardinals were unable to respond and the Beavers were the 2025 NSRBL champions.
Pitching for the Cardinals were Corey Wildeman, Kaden Cey and Garin Scherr. Jared Schmidt started on the pitcher’s mound for the Beavers with Caleb Hoiseth, Mike Ross and Gavin Nolin coming in in later innings.
Cardinals player/manager Cory Wildeman felt the “series could have went either way.”
On behalf of the Beavers, Kyle Gregoire said they wanted “to thank the Unity Cardinals for a hard fought series.” The two teams played a total of five games against each other and three of the games went to extra innings; “definitely a battle,” said Gregoire.
Wildeman added “This was one of the best Cardinal teams I have ever been a part of.”
He thanked everyone who helped and supported the team in Wilkie and said, “We look forward to being back in Unity for the start of next season.”
Prior to the NSRBL final, the Cardinals were in Saskatoon, Aug. 1, 2 and 3, playing in the top level Baseball Saskatchewan Senior AA Tier 1 provincials. Wildeman said, “We were ecstatic when we found out our request had been confirmed … After winning Tier 3 and Tier 2 respectively in the years prior, we felt it was time to take the next step with some of the best teams in the province.
“After defeating two of the favourites in round robin play, we were ready for the semifinals on Sunday. We ran into some great pitching and our provincial run ended with a 4-0 loss” to the Regina Rockies.
As stated in a Facebook post on the Unity Senior Cards Baseball page, “Small town boys can play with the big dogs.”
