Alberta’s male baseball team captured the silver medal at the Canada Summer Games after falling 11-1 to Ontario in the gold medal game in Niagara.
To get to the big game Alberta beat B.C. 4-0 in the semi-final off a no-hitter from St. Albert’s Michael Yusypchuk.
Red Deer’s Dwayne Lalor, who was the head coach of the team said as a team they performed well but there were a few games they would have liked to play better in. The semi-final win was also Lalor’s first no-hitter he has coached.
“Once we got into the final, Ontario was just better than us… The guys played very well and we had some spectacular performances,” Lalor said.
Olds, Alta. native and Red Deer CarStar Braves U18 AAA Tier I pitcher Jaxon Zanolli pitched a round-robin game against Quebec and won, which saved Alberta from having to play in the quarter-final. That win put them at 4-0 and Lalor said it was a huge win. They lost their next game against Manitoba before beating B.C. in the semi-final.
Throughout the tournament, Lalor said especially in the first four games his team was able to hit really well and scored a lot of runs. They cooled off towards the end but he said that’s to be expected when you play seven games in six days.
“The silver medal it’s tough because you lose your last game. Like really we won the silver medal when we beat B.C. in the semi-final and then the bonus of winning the next one is you get the gold instead of the silver,” he said. “As a province, we’ve never won a gold medal [in male baseball] in the Canada Games.”
As a coach, Lalor has two silvers and they were really hoping to add a gold medal to it but Ontario had different plans and played a great game.
“We did what we had to do to have a chance and in the last game of the tournament, we just didn’t have a great performance. Getting to the gold medal game is a heck of an accomplishment and obviously, you want to play well in the final but Ontario was just better than us that day,” he said.
In addition to Jaxon Zanolli, there were three other players from the Braves who were a part of the squad including Gavin Galenza, Matthew Murray, and Nathan Flewelling. They are also all teammates at the St. Joseph High School Baseball Academy.
“It was the most Red Deer Minor Baseball players that have ever made one Team Alberta at the same time,” Lalor said.
This week those four players will return to the CarStar Braves as they head to Saskatchewan to represent their province at the Western Canadian Baseball Championships on Aug. 18-21.
“There’s some tired fellas because they played the provincials, and then two days later we went to our pre-event training and then the Canada Games. They get home at 11 p.m. on Sunday and Wednesday they’re on the move again going to another tournament,” Lalor laughed.
“A huge month for that group of players so to see Red Deer do well at the interprovincial level is a pretty major accomplishment. This group of players is strong and they got energy and enthusiasm and they’re good players. Hopefully, it’ll encourage other youngsters to keep playing or to start playing,” Lalor added.