The Southeast A’s bantam AAA baseball team went into the bottom half of the seventh and final inning at Alameda Field last Saturday down three runs to the Lumsden Cubs, but the team felt confident a comeback was in the works.
“This is our fourth comeback win of the year, so I wasn’t worried about going into the last inning,” said Trent Dorrance, head coach of the A’s. “We had the right bats up and we had a lot of speed on the bases, so I knew we could do it.”
Regular leadoff hitter Dawson Schaff took first base to start the bottom of the seventh after getting hit by a Riley Slick pitch. Jose Reyes hit a double to centre field after that scoring Schaff and bringing the game to 9-7.
Dylan Hull then smacked a Slick offering down the third-base line to the left-field fence allowing Reyes to score, while taking up his position at second base. Tyren Dorrance followed that up with a ground out to the Cubs shortstop moving Hull to third base. Burke Lyons scored Hull to tie the game at nine with a drive between second and third before quickly advancing to second on a steal.
“I saw that there was an opportunity to run to third and then when the passed ball got past the catcher I immediately thought I could go and get home,” said Lyons about stealing third base before scoring the winning run. Lyons also earned the win on the mound working the last three innings of play.
The Cubs scored the game’s opening run in the top of the first inning when Adam Zimmer nailed a hard grounder to short bringing home Jackson Fraser. Hull put the A’s ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning with a double to the left-field corner scoring Schaff and Reyes. Liam Rutten then made it 3-1 A’s with a line drive to centre field that scored Lyons.
A’s starting pitcher Reyes and Cubs starter Fraser controlled the play in the second inning with each making quick work of the bottom half of the opposition’s lineup. The Cubs jumped ahead 5-3 in the top of the third inning forcing Reyes to give up his spot on the mound to Alex Kerr.
With the score 6-5 in the Cubs’ favour in the bottom of the fourth, the A’s had a glorious chance to go ahead with Reyes up to bat with two outs and the bases loaded, but Fraser held strong and stuck out the batter to end the threat.
“Every game this year we’ve always been able to get a few runs in the last inning (or) the last couple innings,” said Dorrance. “If we don’t win an inning we’re strong enough that we can get them the next one.”
The A’s 10-9 win followed a 12-4 trouncing of the Cubs (4-6) a few hours earlier. The Alameda-based team, who feature players from Kipling, Estevan, Kenosee Lake, Wawota, Alameda, Arcola, Lampman, Carnduff and Bienfait, improved their Regina AAA Bantam League record to a league-best 8-1-1 with the doubleheader sweep in only their second season of play.
“Last year was basically building up for this year,” said Lyons, noting their success this season comes in part from the familiarity and camaraderie among the teammates. “We’re always very positive. Everybody builds each other up.”
