It was an awfully long time before they were able to play at home, and the Estevan Haulers took advantage of it on Saturday with two lopsided victories.
The Haulers (9-1) continued their strong start with 11-2 and 10-1 wins over Melville at Cactus Park.
"The defence was really good again. We didn't have a lot of strikeouts so they did put the ball in play on us. Defensively, we played really well and hit the ball really well. It seemed like once we got through the first round of at-bats and came back through the order again, we started hitting the ball really well in both games," said Haulers head coach Kent Phillips.
In the first game, the Haulers accounted for the bulk of their offence in a seven-run third inning.
Estevan was one batter short of batting around in an inning fuelled by four hits, including a double by Brady Third, along with a walk, an error and a fielder's choice.
The Haulers scored another run in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.
Nate Smart hit 2-for-3 with a single and a double.
Kyler Phillips started the game and threw three innings before giving way to Josh Brown (two and a third) and Third (one and two-thirds).
"We used quite a few pitchers because the guys hadn't pitched for a while (due to postponed games)," said Phillips, who was also saving some pitching for a Sunday doubleheader against the Regina White Sox that was rained out.
The Haulers wasted no time in the second game, scoring five runs in the first inning. They added two more in the fourth and three in the sixth on a three-run homer by Smart.
Starter Kyle Sargent went four innings. Dalton Loustel (one and two-thirds) and Carson Perkins (one and a third) came on later in relief.
"It was kinda nice finally getting to play at home and not having to travel for all of our games all the time," said Phillips. "It worked out good with the blast ball and junior and senior mites tournament going on down there. A lot of us were helping out with that anyway, so it's nice to be able to be at the ball park (all day)."
The Haulers were scheduled to host Weyburn last night. They will play a doubleheader in Moose Jaw on Sunday.
