The U18 AAA Red Deer CarStar Braves are back on top.
On Sunday they defeated the host St. Albert Cardinals 17-5 in the gold medal game at the 2024 Baseball Alberta Elite League Provincial Championship.
It's been a long road for the Braves but on Sunday they finally climbed the mountaintop to win the provincial title.
Two years ago the Braves fell in the provincial final to the St. Albert Cardinals and last year failed to reach the final as tournament hosts.
Head coach Josh Zanolli said Sunday's victory was emotional for those who've been on the roster the last few years. Those players include Dominic Skjonsberg, Sawyer Marshall, and Jake Brooks.
"Going through the last few years and the heartaches of that tournament, to finally see it go our way when it looked like it might not for the majority of the weekend was awesome," Zanolli said.
"It was almost an emotional release to finally get it done."
It certainly didn't come easy for the Braves.
After a slow start to the season, they got hot toward the end of the regular season winning nine of 12 games in July to finish in second place with a 24-12 record.
At provincials, they defeated the Sherwood Park Dukes and the Midwest Prairie Pirates but lost to the Parkland Twins Gold and the Calgary Cubs to finish round-robin play with a 2-2 record.
To keep their season alive they had to face the Twins Gold once again in a tiebreaker and came out on top 3-1 on Sunday. Later that day they defeated the Parkland Twins Blue 6-3 in the semifinals followed by a blowout victory in the gold medal game.
"We definitely had ups and downs," Zanolli said.
"I wouldn't say we were playing fantastic, especially offensively. We were struggling a bit at the plate. Some guys who were really good for us all year just had a hard time getting into rhythm but it was probably the best we've pitched as a group all year.
"We didn't have one bad pitching outing and that kept us in games, especially the ones we were able to get back in late on Sunday."
In an article before provincials, Zanolli said their mindset heading into the weekend was taking care of unfinished business from the pain they felt the last two years. He explained his team embraced that mentality.
"You could tell that they wanted this one bad. They grinded hard all weekend but it was difficult, especially with the losses," he said.
"You typically don't get a chance with a couple of losses in this tournament but we were fortunate that there were some upsets. It gave us a chance to be involved with it on Sunday and they took advantage of it."
The Braves will now represent Alberta at the Baseball Canada 2024 18U National Championships in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador from Aug. 15-18.
The Braves will take on Team Manitoba at 1 p.m. on Aug. 15 to open the tournament. On Aug. 16 they'll face Team Newfoundland at noon followed by a matchup with Nova Scotia at 6 p.m.
They'll wrap up round-robin play on Aug. 17 against the host team at 11 a.m. The semifinals will take place on Aug. 18 at 11 and 11:30 a.m. followed by the bronze and gold medal games at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
"We'll enjoy the week there and make the best of it," Zanolli said. "I don't know what our expectations are that week if we have any. We're just going to enjoy the rest of the summer with this group and try to win as many games out there as we can."
