The Brandon Marlins junior AAA baseball team won the 2016 Western Canada Baseball Association Junior 21U Championships with a 4-0 victory over the South Jasper Jays at Weyburn’s Tom Laing Park on Sunday.
The win made up for the Marlins 5-0 loss to the Jays in the first game of the Western Championships on Friday morning. That defeat was the only blemish the Manitoba Junior Baseball League pennant winners would suffer at the tournament as the club beat the Weyburn P.A.R. Contracting A’s 12-3 Friday evening, the Moose Jaw Regals 12-1 on Saturday afternoon and the Pembina Valley Orioles 5-1 in the competition’s final round-robin game to secure the championship berth.
“It definitely feels great to go out with a bang, this being my last year” said Marlins pitcher Daylan Creasy, who threw a complete game three-strikeout and seven-hit shutout for the win. “I couldn’t have done it without the team behind me that’s for sure. They were great for me all weekend.”
The Marlins earned the chance to play in the final thanks to their 29-10 run differential in the tournament round robin. The Jays (27-14) and Orioles (23-19) also sported 3-1 records through the round robin, but had to meet in a semifinal right before the title game to decide who would get the birth with the Jays pulling out a come-from-behind 7-5 win.
“The first game they came out and they played a good game,” said Marlins catcher Jordan Robertson. “They beat us, but we came together as the weekend went on and got better every inning.”
After Creasy shut down the Jays three straight in the top of the first inning, Robertson got the offence going in the bottom of the frame nailing a drive to right field in their first at bat. Clark Whelpton advanced Robertson to third on a single to centre field before a throw in the dirt on an attempt to catch Whelpton stealing allowed Robertson to score.
Marlins designated hitter Skylar Canada then cracked a double to the right field fence to score Whelpton before Bradley Schoonbaert put another ball into the outfield to make the score 3-0. Schoonbaert scored the inning’s final run thanks to a wild throw to first on an infield hit by Jay Pringle down the third base line.
“It was a well played game by both teams,” said Marlins head coach Brad Schoonbaert. “We were able to put that four spot up early and that’s all the scoring that there was, so both teams played real good D. It was a well pitched game and we got the hits when we needed them.”
The host Weyburn A’s, which boasts players from across southeastern Saskatchewan including Midale and Estevan, went 0-4 in the Western Championships losing 6-5 to the Regals and 12-3 to the Marlins on Friday and 10-0 to the Jays and 9-8 to the Orioles on Saturday.
“For the talent level that was here, we were in every game,” said Bert Kauf, head coach of the A’s. “We went to nine innings (three extra) against Pembina Valley and they’re a pretty strong team. At the end of the day, we played really well.”
Kauf said the A’s would not have been able to host the Western Championships if not for the incredible volunteer support and sponsorship help they received. He said the visiting teams even lent a hand with members of the Alberta junior AAA champions Jays, for example, coming to the park a day before the tournament started to help get things ready.
“Even one of their mums grabbed a broom and went and cleaned dugouts,” he said. “It’s just been a good atmosphere all weekend. We’ve had great crowds. We’ve had good people in and out. The players have been really good. The umpiring has been exceptionally well done, so really an overall successful tournament.”
