It was a mixed week for the Yorkton Yankees, the defending SESBL champions losing a high scoring contest in Canora against the Supers, before coming back against the Willowbrook Royals.
In Canora, on June 10, the Supers came out strong, building up a four run lead in the first two innings before the Yankees answered back with a run in the third. While the runs kept coming in for both teams, it was Canora that sealed the deal in the sixth inning with six runs. While the Yankees did follow that up with four runs in the seventh, it wasn’t enough to catch up, the final score being a 14-11 for Canora.
Player-coach Mark Jacobs says that while they made a couple of comeback attempts, they were in a bit too big of a hole by that time.
“It was still a good game, but obviously we were on the wrong side of that one.”
The follow up contest in Willowbrook on Monday, June 13, went in favor of the Yankees, with a 7-2 win over the Royals. Jacobs says that the key to a win in Willowbrook is to get out ahead early, and when they accomplished that they didn’t look back.
Jacobs says strong pitching from Logan Calanchie has been a highlight all year, and combined with the batting lineup coming into its own lead to the team’s win.
“Our batting lineup, I think, is next to none in the league, we’ve got some excellent hitters... Once we get our hitting going like we’ve done now I think we’re in a position going forward now.”
Jacobs also credits the strength and experience of the team with the ability to bounce back after the loss earlier in the week.
“We’re a confident bunch, we’ve lost ballgames before, we’ve lost titles, we’ve lost blow-outs. Our team has experienced losing and knows how to bounce back.”
In order to keep the ball rolling, Jacobs hopes they can get a bit more pitching depth since they can’t rely on Calanchie in every game.
Next action for the Yankees will be June 15 at Jubilee Park in Yorkton, against the Langenburg Indians. Jacobs expects a nice, close game between the two teams.
“They’re always a tough team, they handed us our loss a month or so ago so we’re going to have to look into a bit of retribution hopefully.”
