The Estevan KPC mosquito AAA Sluggers bats came alive during a 19-11 win over the White Butte Broncos on June 21, in White City.
Estevan was supposed to play two games against the Broncos but game two was cancelled due to rain.
The Sluggers jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, when they scored five runs.
Assistant coach Aren Miller was impressed with how all of the batters reached the bases and scored runs.
“It’s probably the first game all year where our lineup top to bottom all hit the ball and all got involved,” he said.
In the bottom half of the first inning, Miller said the Broncos could have scored multiple runs but back-catcher Mason Fichter put a halt to a potential rally, when he threw out back-to-back baserunners trying to steal second base.
“Instead of being in a good position, they had two outs and nobody on, so that allowed our pitcher to really go after the batters, when nobody was on base,” said Miller.
Miller also mentioned the Sluggers are a type of team where they need to get off to a good start to be successful, and those plays by Fichter helped the team maintain their lead.
Estevan continued to hit the ball, and scored the maximum six runs in the second and third innings.
“A lot of our hits were actually good hits. It wouldn’t have really mattered who we were playing, we were finding the gaps and we were finding the holes,” said Miller.
After the top half of the fifth inning, the Sluggers had a 19-5 lead and, even though the Broncos couldn’t win the game, they elected to bat in the bottom half of the inning.
The pitching also came through for Estevan. Hayden Lavoie pitched two and two-thirds innings and Tanyan Strudwick threw two and one-third innings.
“Our pitchers did a good job. Anytime you can get through a game of mosquito AAA using only two pitchers, your guys are throwing strikes,” said Miller.
Overall, Miller was glad to see everyone on the team made contributions offensively.
“The top of our batting order has been pretty consistent all year, and now that the bottom guys, the younger guys, are getting some confidence and starting to put the ball in play, we have potential to score a lot of runs every game,” said Miller.
Miller believes the Sluggers are improving each week, and with a couple of weeks until league playoffs he said they need to be mentally strong in the upcoming games.
The Sluggers are on the road for their next games and are matched up against Melville for a doubleheader on June 27. the next day they play back to back in Regina against the White Sox.
