The Red Deer teams have their fate in their own hands as they head into the final day of the provincial peewee AAA and mosquito AA baseball championships at Great Chief Park today.
Both the peewee Red Deer Dairy Queen Braves and mosquito Red Deer Dick’s Auto Braves play their final round-robin game at noon against the team they’re tied with for second place.
The DQ Braves and Edmonton Cardinals are both 2-1, second to 3-1 Sherwood Park.
“It’s where we want to be,” said Braves head coach Dwayne Lalor. “We’re in control of our fate and that’s where we want to be. We win that game and we’re not only in the final, but off to the Western championships (in Nanaimo).”
The Braves, who were 1-1 Friday, continued their hot hitting with a 15-5 win over St. Albert Saturday as Ethan Ropcean went the distance in the game that was called in the bottom of the sixth on the mercy rule.
Zach Olson drove in the final run with a two-out single up the middle. It was his third hit on the day.
“Overall we played well today. We started to come together part way through our second game Friday (a 16-6 win over Spruce Grove) and it continued on today. We hit the ball well and played some excellent defence.”
The defence was especially sharp in the top of the fifth when shortstop Adam Sandstrom made a spectacular diving play back of second and threw out the runner at first and right-fielder Carter O’Donnell made a diving catch to end the inning.
“Those are things we practice and today the guys did everything right,” said Lalor.
Sandstrom also had a single, double and a walk while Kelsey Lalor had a single and double and O’Donnell a pair of doubles.
In other games Saturday, Edmonton surprised Sherwood Park 18-2 while losing 10-0 to Spruce Grove and Sherwood Park downed Spruce Grove 16-2.
The final is slated for 3 p.m.
In mosquito action, the Braves lost 12-2 and beat Spruce Grove 10-5 Friday and edged Fort McMurray 7-6 Saturday when MacGregor Manyluk scored from third base on a wild pitch with two away in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“We needed that,” said Braves head coach Chris Howell. “Now it’s up to the kids what happens tomorrow. We’re in a good spot as everyone is having fun and we have a couple of our best pitchers available.”
Both Zach Baker and Ben LeBlanc can throw at noon against St. Albert.
St. Albert beat Spruce Grove 10-0 and Fort McMurray 23-5 and lost 7-0 to Sherwood Park, who sits first with a 3-1 record.
Sherwood Park also downed Fort McMurray 9-6 and lost 6-2 to Spruce Grove.
Howell likes what he sees from his troops, who are made up of mainly second-year players.
“We have only two first-year players, so next year we’ll be young, but that’s fine. The experience we have this year will help us and I’ve been happy with the way we’ve progressed throughout the season.”
Cooper Jones was two-for-two in the loss to Sherwood Park while he was three-for-three with three runs scored against Spruce Grove. He also worked in relief of starter LeBlanc. Ty Moline was one-for-one with a pair of walks and Baker had two doubles and a walk.
Hunter Leslie started against Fort McMurray with Reid Howell working the final three innings to pick up the win.
Mason Love Hollman was three-for-three at the plate while Devon Carroll was two-for-two and Baker had a two-run double. Leslie was one-for-two.
The final goes at 3 p.m.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com