The under-17 Saskatchewan baseball team advanced to the gold medal game at the Baseball Canada Cup at Saskatoon’s Cairns Field Monday on the strength of Bienfait’s Carson Perkins’ pitching arm, but an old nemesis from the West Coast was waiting to spoil the glory.
Team Sask lost the gold medal game 10-1 to British Columbia, who won the championship in Saskatoon last year by dispatching Saskatchewan 3-1 in semifinal action. After giving Team Sask a sixth inning opportunity to win the game with the bases loaded before turning a triple play at the last Canada Cup, B.C. wasted little time this year in grabbing the gold medal by scoring six earned runs on seven hits in the first inning and two-thirds on Monday to quickly put the game out of reach.
“I think we got too much part of the plate and they just made us pay pitching-wise,” said Greg Brons, head coach of Team Saskatchewan. “The guy that they threw (to pitch) was pretty darn good, so with that combination it was tough to battle back.”
Carson, 16, helped the team make it to the gold medal game by throwing a four-hit, two earned run complete game 4-3 victory earlier that day in the semifinal against Ontario. The regular Southeast Legacy midget AAA Twins pitcher improved his record in the Canada Cup to 2-0 with the win giving him an overall ERA of 2.54 for the tournament.
“It was a good game,” said Carson. “Ontario came out swinging and I guess my stuff was on. They were grounding out everything. It was a quick game, well pitched on both sides. It was tied (until the seventh inning). It was a barn burner, so having the final win there and everyone was clapping, it was a truly cool moment.”
The Baseball Canada Cup brings together the best U17 players in the country for a few days each summer and the scouts from Major League Baseball and the college ranks are in attendance to take in the action.
Carson said that puts the pressure on, but he has learned in baseball the only way to make it through is to just put your head down and control what you can. He said having a home crowd on your side also helps.
“It was big,” he said. “The first day they came out and the crowd was packed and they were all behind us. Every play we made they were screaming and cheering, so every game it was nice to have everyone out there and have the whole field behind us.”
Brons said Saskatchewan will lose that home field feeling next year, as the Canada Cup moves to Fort McMurray in 2016, but it was nice to give the home crowd a good show during this year’s August 5 to 10 tourney. He said the kids on the team, including their “horse” Carson, competed hard and should be proud of their play throughout.
“We didn’t give in,” said Brons. “Even when we were down (against B.C.) guys were still up. We felt great going into this game. B.C. just hit the ball. That’s all we could do.”
