After playing like gangbusters all weekend, the host Lloydminster Prairie Pirates faced a tougher test Sunday night in the Baseball Alberta 15U AA Tier 3 provincial final but still pushed past the Camrose Cougars Royal 14-13.
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It was almost dark as the Pirates celebrated their golden finish at Hospital West Field in Lloydminster. Both finalists and a strong contingent of fans battled wind, rain and cold — in stark contrast to the warm weather that prevailed Friday and Saturday.
John MacNeil – Meridian Source
Trailing 14-9 entering the seventh inning, Camrose rallied with four runs to make it a one-run ball game. Lloyd pitcher Alex Kuntz struck out the final batter to snuff the Cougars’ dramatic comeback efforts.
It was a game of momentum shifts, as Lloyd came back from an early 5-1 deficit to score the next nine runs. The Pirates took a 10-6 edge into the sixth inning, before the Cougars clawed back to cut the gap to 10-9.
Then, as they did so effectively all weekend, the Pirates played more long ball — including back-to-back home runs from tournament MVP Dayton Pedersen and Mason Flasch — to promptly regain a commanding lead (14-9) through six complete innings. It was the second homer of the night for Flasch, who went 4-for-4 and drove in four runs in the final.
Notably, the Pirates went into the six-team tournament as the last seed. They finished with a 4-0 record — including three mercy wins — and sporting gold medals.
“I didn’t really like where we were ranked,” said Lloydminster head coach Gage Haygarth. “I thought we were better than our ranking.
“But the boys played well all weekend. You don’t score 60-something runs without contributions from everyone. We didn’t have a weak point in our lineup. All the boys played well as a group.”
The Pirates’ coach also tipped his cap to the top-ranked Cougars, who had lost to Lloyd 17-7 in round-robin play Saturday before mounting a stronger challenge the next night.
“It was a battle,” Haygarth said. “All hats off to Camrose. They had a tremendous season. I knew they weren’t going to go away easily.
“It was a good game. The boys had to battle. We had that big inning in the third and we rolled it from there. But (the Cougars) didn’t go away. They didn’t quit. We bent but we didn’t break. Alex (Kuntz) finished the job off for us, so it was good.”
Pirates’ starter Logan Schmidt and reliever Maddox Turcotte also appeared on the mound during the final, setting the stage for Kuntz’s stint in the seventh inning.
Along with the home-run heroics from Flasch and Pedersen, Khessler Foster went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs in the gold-medal game. Kuntz and Turcotte each added a couple of hits.
John MacNeil – Meridian Source
Mac Macdonald batted 4–for-5 for Camrose. He and teammate Taylor Dewald — the Cougars’ starting pitcher — also homered. Tanner Mitchell and Austin Wolbeck contributed two hits apiece.
In the semifinals earlier Sunday, Lloydminster dumped the Lacombe Dodgers Blue 11-1 and Camrose blanked the Sherwood Park Athletics Green 13-0.
In their opening game Saturday, the Pirates clipped the Lethbridge Junior Bulls 20-4 in five innings.
Haygarth reported that 10 of the Pirates’ 12 players graduate from the 15U age level this year. Still eligible to return to the team next season are Foster and Sam Purser.
The Pirates’ entire coaching staff is made up of former Lloyd minor baseball players now in their early 20s. Haygarth is 21, while his assistants are Brenden Pollard (20), Konnor Hennigar (22) and Ellis King (23).
John MacNeil – Meridian Source
