The Southeast Legacy midget AAA Twins split two Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL-AAA) doubleheaders over the weekend by winning the first and fourth games they played in a span of less than 24 hours.
At 4 p.m. on July 11, the Twins (13-14, sixth in league standings) took the field against the Northwest Prairie Pirates (13-11, fourth) in Lloydminster where the boys managed to scrape up three runs in the top of the seventh inning, giving them a 9-6 lead they would hold onto thanks to a Rhett Nikolejsin save.
Right after that game finished, the two teams battled it out again at Wallace Field. The Twins again scored three runs in the top of the seventh putting them ahead 6-3, but they couldn't hold on in the bottom of the frame and gave up four runs with the winning tally coming on a walk-off passed ball.
Blaine Kovach, head coach of the Twins, said both games were close back and forth affairs that featured strong batting and pitching from his players. He said the positive taken from the doubleheader was the lack of errors made by the Twins, who instead spent the evening capitalizing on their opponent's mistakes.
“If we ended up taking two from them it would have been nice,” said Kovach. “We would have been able to jump ahead of them (in the standings), but splitting the series is all right. Now we know what they're going to be like come provincial time. They're a good team.”
Right after the 14 innings of ball, the team jumped on a bus for a ride to Saskatoon for a date with the D-Backs (19-8, second) the next morning.
At 10 a.m. the boys were back on the field where, despite a seven-hit, two-walk, seven-strike out performance by starting pitcher Carson Perkins, the Twins fell 4-2. The team got one back after lunch in a decisive 7-2 win over the home side, which showcased the hot bat of third baseman Preston Hutt who went four-for-four in the game.
“The first game, we left a lot of guys on base,” said Kovach. “We just couldn't get the runs that we needed to. Just the timely hits weren't there and we were hitting everything right at them. Then the second game we had a very, very good pitching performance (by starter Kirkland Chalus) and we ended up being able to find those holes and we broke through and kept going throughout the whole game and didn't let them back in it.”
Kovach said the long bus trip between cities, along with the hot and humid weather throughout the weekend, took its toll on the boys, so to take two-out-of-four demonstrated "a lot of character and a lot of heart” in his players. He said the coaching staff is going to be focusing on situational hitting to try and do a better job scoring base runners, while also getting their relievers some bullpen work this week, as they prepare for their final league games this Saturday versus the Saskatoon Giants (8-17) at Cairns Field.
“If we can keep doing that we should be just fine,” he said. “They're a little bit below us now, but I don't think that will be a problem. If we come with what we want to do and show we need to get ready for provincials...we should be ready to go.”
