| Game 25: British Columbia 3 Saskatchewan 0 |
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SCOTT SCHMIDT This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it When the defending champion British Columbia Selects arrived in Medicine Hat this week, they probably didn’t expect Saturday’s final round-robin contest against Saskatchewan would require desperation. But after opening the week with two wins, the club from the beautiful province had dropped three straight — including one to Saskatchewan — and had to win in order to have any chance of a championship repeat. Lingering over their heads even more was that the team had yet to find any real offence and scored only 11 runs through its first five games. The bats weren’t spectacular, but a bend-don’t-break start from Mike Ellis coupled with a few clutch swings out of the lineup helped B.C. take down Saskatchewan 3-0. The victory not only kept B.C. from the Pool A basement, but moved them into a second-place tie with Québec. The tourney’s tie-breaking system gave the edge to B.C. and an automatic berth into today’s 1 p.m. semifinal. “I knew I had to throw strikes,” said Ellis, who finished with a complete-game six-hitter to go with five strikeouts. “We have a really good defence so I just tried to let the batters do their thing and let my defence back me up. “They made really good plays for me.” Saskatchewan was not without opportunities. Twice they loaded the bases — once in the second and again in the seventh — and twice Ellis snuck out of the jam. “In those situations you have to stay focused,” said Ellis, who was named player of the game. “You just have to stick with the basics, you can’t let it get to your head and I did a pretty good job of that and let my defence work.” B.C. head coach John Haar hoped his team would respond to the adversity the way they did, though he still wants to see some consistency at the plate. He says having a great pitching staff is nice to fall back on, but the good fortune can only last so long. “Well we weren’t sure how they’d be,” admitted Haar about his team’s mindset before the game. “We did go to a Medicine Hat high school field this morning and spent a lot of time on hitting. “We hoped it would give us the opportunity to cash in some runs, and we did. Maybe what we did this morning paid off, we hope so and we’re pretty happy with the way they responded. “We said from the beginning that we were happy with our pitching and defence and it would give us opportunity to win every game. We just forgot in the first five games that we had to hit a little bit, and we didn’t hit at all.” As for Saskatchewan, the loss puts them into a consolation game for their final contest. The club’s record might deceive people on the talent level that this team had. Aside from two lopsided losses to Québec, Saskatchewan was in every game right up to the final pitch and showed they can hang tough with the nation’s best. “First of all, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” said head coach Roger Anholt. “I thought they played so well today and I’m just thrilled with the effort they put in. “A couple of key hits at the right time would’ve certainly changed the complexion, but you know sometimes the reason you don’t get that is because the pitcher in that particular case, tip your hat to him, he got you out.” |
