With apologies to the WMBL Cardinals and the Melville Millionaires, some of the most competitive baseball in the Parkland area this summer has belonged to the local South East Senior Baseball League as the premier senior baseball league in East Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba has featured some high quality baseball this July.
Much of that quality belongs to the Yorkton Yankees, the defending SESBL champions from 2012. Yorkton has yet to lose a game since winning the league title last season against the Willowbrook Royals, compiling a sterling regular season record of 13 wins and one tie to keep an undefeated record in the SESBL this summer.
That undefeated record was put to the test the past week when the SESBL Semi-Final series went underway between the Yankees and the Russell Bulls. Russell finished 5-9 during the regular season before upsetting the Willowbrook Royals 3-1 and 2-1 in the quarterfinal to advance to play the Yankees. Yorkton easily cruised through Russell during the regular season and it would be no different during Game One of the best of three series as the Yankees handed the Bulls an 11-0 thrashing.
The Yankees would come out to a 5-0 lead off the bat at Jubilee Park to start the bottom of the first before adding one more run in the fourth and capping things off with a five run sixth inning to seal Game One with a statement win in their playoff opener.
Kurt Karcha would lead the Yankees with three RBI's in the win with Dan Morai and Logan Calanchie following up as the Yankees top run producers in the win with a pair of RBI's each in the win. Dan Morai would earn the win on the mound in addition to his two RBI's and a stolen base with Matt Lescyhshyn closed the game in relief for Yorkton to keep the Yankees undefeated streak alive and send the series back to Russell with a chance of a two game sweep.
Yorkton would again come out strong to start Game Two across the border in Manitoba. A three run first followed by a two spot in the second would once again put the Yankees in the drivers seat with a five run lead, plenty of run support for Logan Calanchie.
The Yankees would add an insurance run in the fourth to extend their lead to 6-0 and would head to the bottom of the seventh three outs away from their second straight trip to the SESBL Champ-ionship with a generous 6-0 lead. With their ace in Calanchie on the mound it appeared that it would be another routine inning for the Yankees on their way to wrapping up the series, but the Bulls had other plans with their season on the line.
David McGregor and Jerrod Auger RBI's would be the highlights of a spirited Bulls rally that would give the Yankees a scare as the Bulls inched their way to just two runs away of tying the game, and impressive feat considering they registered just five hits on Calanchie all game. Still the Yankees stuck with Calanchie, who was a key pitcher in the Yankees SESBL title last season. Calanchie didn't disappoint, getting the final out and sending Yorkton to the SESBL Championship with an undefeated record.
It would mark another near defeat for the Yankees, who have had a couple of close calls in a league that despite the appearance of statistically dominance of the Yankees and the Canora Supers in the regular season standings, has been extremely competitive at points, something the underdog Bulls showed in the playoffs in upsetting the Willowbrook Royals and nearly finding a comeback against the Yankees.
Still it would serve as relief for Yorkton knowing that they would be in the finals after having the target on their backs all season as defending champions and after that the SESBL's only undefeated team after they beat the Canora Supers in a key battle of undefeated teams midway through the regular season. With a best of three format actually hurting the favorite due to the heightened chance of a shock upset, the Yankees got the job done in as painless of a way as possible with a two game sweep of Russell.
In the other SESBL semifinal there has been more of a back and forth as the Langenburg Indians and the Canora Supers. In the first game of the series, Langenburg would roar out to a shock 12-1 victory over the second place Supers to take the series lead. A seven run sixth inning for the Indians put the game well out of reach for Canora who could never quite get into the game despite answering the Indians two run first inning with a run of their own to start the game as Langenburg's 14 hits simply were just too much for the Supers to match.
In the second game Canora recovered to win in extra innings after Langenburg tied things up in the bottom of the sixth after Canora went up 2-1 in the same inning. A two RBI day from Jason Blommaert and a RBI from Zach Rakochy were enough to set up a deciding third game that at the time of writing has yet to be scheduled or completed according to the SESBL.
For now Yorkton awaits the winner of the Canora and Langenburg series undefeated and ready to defend their 2012 title. If the efforts of the Bulls, Supers, or Indians in the semifinal round are any indication, the Yankees won't lift that title for the second straight year without a fight.
