Winners of the 2012 SESBL title, the Yorkton Yankees continued to show the quality of senior baseball in the East Central area of the province in 2013, topping their 2012 season with an undefeated season in their home league by sweeping the Langenburg Indians with a 5-4 win on Tuesday night.
Like in the 2012 SESBL Championship the Yankees would not get the title without a fight as a very game Indians ballclub came into Jubilee Park looking to reprise the spoiler role the Willowbrook Royals played in a similar situation last season.
After being shut out to scores of 10-0 and 6-0 in Game One and Game Two the Indians came roaring out to a 3-0 lead on Tuesday night, putting the defending champions on their heels and giving Langenburg the confidence that they could sent the series back down the highway for a Game Four.
Langenburg would keep that lead into the latter half of the ballgame before the Yankees two sport star Jeremy Johnson sparked what would ultimately be a title winning rally for the defending champs.
With two runners on base, Johnson, the Yorkton Terriers top goalscorer in their 2012/13 SJHL title winning season with game winning goals in Game Five and Six of the final came up clutch again reprising the role of Yorkton's Bo Jackson with a hard hit rope to the outfield wall that cashed in two runners.
Langenburg would recover later on, getting an insurance run heading into the bottom of the sixth inning up 4-2. The Yankees would once again blaze the comeback in the bottom of the sixth, cashing in two more runs but having the game tying run get gunned down at the plate for the second out of the inning before failing to cash in a runner from third.
The bottom of the seventh would see the Yankees put the pressure on Langenburg for another consecutive inning as a perfect drag bunt and steal from the leadoff batter put the winning run in scoring position for Johnson.
This time the Indians opted to walk Johnson, but the following batter stepped up and earned an infield hit to load the bases with the Yankees manager Brian Trollope playing it safe and holding the runner on third.
The move would prove to be the right one as the next batter would leak a ground ball through the Indians infield that was playing in to get the play at home, sending the Yankees dugout towards home plate to greet their game winning hero and hoist the SESBL title for a second straight season.
Manager Brian Trollope after the game made it clear that the Yankees were playing for the title on Tuesday night, not an undefeated SESBL season. "Undefeated seasons are not what we played for this year, what we were about was ballplayers playing for ballplayers", "says Trollope." "We played to grow as players and to play hard every time we stepped out onto the field not to finish undefeated, to be the best ballplayers and to improve was our goal."
Over the weekend the Yankees competed in Saskatchewan Baseball Senior Provincials where they didn't have the same success as in the SESBL this season, coming up against some quality teams and losing close results. "In the first game we booted the ball around a bit and in the second game we lost to the eventual champs 1-0 so I think that we played really well and very well could have left provincials with a much better result," says Trollope.
Trollope also mentioned the quality of the SESBL and senior baseball across the province. "When you go to provincials or play in the SESBL you aren't playing kids who don't know how to play the game and the league is getting better each year and Langenburg were very good opponents who will likely be stronger next year like many of the teams in the SESBL," says Trollope. "Provincially it would be nice to get a AAA representative to go to Nationals for Saskatchewan, but the baseball at provincials in itself was very strong from each and every team." Trollope close by saying that the best part of the season was the team spirit and bond between the club.
