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Provincial title caps marathon season

The Okotoks 16U Dawgs have earned a breather in more ways than one.

The Okotoks 16U Dawgs have earned a breather in more ways than one.

Okotoks capped a marathon season of baseball the best way possible in posting an undefeated record to earn the Tier II Midget AAA Provincial Championship on home ground at Tourmaline Field on Aug. 9.

“I knew we were going to win. We had so much energy,” said Dawgs U16 coach Allen Cox. “We even got to wear the college tie-dyes. If they got to the championship they asked if they could wear them.

“We had some guys like Craig Spencer from the college team there and really cool to see all the college guys still around come out to the game, the alumni were there. That whole Dawgs family, the energy was awesome.”

How the players weren’t running on fumes is a testament to long term planning.

The 16U Dawgs were the most active team in the academy during the calendar year with the championship tilt representing its 90th game of the season. Catchers Nico Ingebrand and Parker Poole each played 45 games in the physically-taxing position.

“We were dead tired. We played more games than anybody in the academy, that was our 90th game and that’s unheard of,” Cox said. “They were beat up, but we did a good job of getting guys in and saving arms. We took our pitchers and made them closers and made closers starters at the end.

“What a long season for a 16-year-old kid playing on the big field for the first time, we went to Nova Scotia, Georgia, probably the longest season I’ve been associated with.”

The Tier II tournament featured the bottom six teams of Alberta’s top Midget AAA league.

The Okotoks U16 roster, composed entirely of Grade 10 aged players to compete against older opposition, were the number-one seed in the championships and finished the regular season just two wins shy of the Tier I qualification.

They got the ball rolling early in the championship game - a 6-2 win over the Calgary Dinos Yellow.

“We came out and hit the ball right away. All weekend in the first inning we were putting up big numbers,” Cox said. “Tanner Zdunich hit the home run to put it away. It was a close game and when he hit that one their sails went down.”

Matt Doberthein went five innings allowing just two earned runs before big Jake Tighe came in and blanked the Dinos in two perfect innings of relief.

The team’s ace Ryan McFarland got the start in the semifinal in the Dawgs’ convincing 6-1 triumph over the South Jasper Place Jays due in part to some timely hitting.

“Zak Little hit a bomb. He’s a guy that hasn’t play because of injuries all year,” the coach added. “I just happened to put him in the lineup at DH because it could be his last game and he hit an inside fastball over the left field wall to make it 6-1.”

Okotoks opened the tournament by outlasting the Dinos in 10-9 seesaw thriller and followed it up with a 12-7 victory over the Calgary Cubs to get through to the semifinal round.

Defence was key to the undefeated run, specifically in the middle infield.

“Cody Kemp, our shortstop, made plays all weekend,” Cox said. “If you have an MVP to a defensive guy, he made three plays in a row with guys on where he made a diving play.

“He was probably the guy that saved a couple runs that saved us a couple wins.”

Unlike their Dawgs compatriots in the Peewee and Bantam ranks the U16 squad will not be heading to nationals as there is not a Tier II Canadian championships.

Given the amount of baseball the squad has seen, that’s probably not such a bad thing.


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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