Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

By Scott Roblin

Season Over

Knights bounced at North Districts, Vauxhall Spurs advance to ‘A’ State Tournament

Jul 21, 2019 | 8:35 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – While their season may have ended a little earlier than they expected, the Medicine Hat K of C Knights aren’t maligning their effort in their final game of the summer.

Facing off against the Lethbridge Miners at the ‘A’ North Districts championship at Jeffries Field, the Knights dropped a 9-6 elimination decision on Saturday and were knocked out from the ‘B’ bracket playoffs.

But not before staging a furious comeback attempt in the seventh inning in the hopes of keeping the season alive.

“It ended on a line out appropriately enough,” said Knights head coach Lane Aman. “Hitting the ball hard and sometimes that’s how baseball goes unfortunately.”

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Trailing by seven runs and down to their final at-bats, the Knights rattled off four consecutive runs to make it a three-run contest.

Medicine Hat then loaded the bases with the tying run on first base, however a Carson Sauter line out to short stop quickly halted the Knights comeback attempt.

Designated hitter Hayden Hall said it was a wild game to take part in and added it stung to know how close they came to advancing at North Districts.

“It was crazy honestly,” said Hall. “We were just kind of down to start, we kind of got up again, came down, and then we came up in that last inning. I just wish we could have gotten up earlier.”

Putting two runners on base, the Knights were able to cash in Sauter in the seventh inning after a passed ball from the Miners to cut the deficit to 9-3.

After a strikeout and a pop up brought Medicine Hat to its final out, back to back singles from Hall and Cale Ferguson added two more runs.

Kobe Coderre drew a walk off the bench to load the bases for the Knights, with recent Team Canada member Kaitlyn Ross taking advantage with a single to left field to close the gap to 9-6.

Two pitches later the Knights left the field for the final time this season, but even in defeat Aman said it was a proud feeling from the bench.

“It speaks a lot towards our team and the character of the players here to manage to get the tying run on base in that last inning,” he said. “We go in there down 9-2 and we battle our way to get within striking distance, that speaks a lot about the team.”

Splitting four games at North Districts while also playing as the host team, there were plenty of ups and downs for the Knights not only at the tournament but throughout the 2019 campaign.

Boasting one of the youngest rosters in the entire Alberta/Montana American Legion system, the Knights slowly found their footing as the season progressed.

“We were really young this year,” said Aman. “It was really good to see how much improvement we got to see from every single player. I could pick out something on every single one of the players that I saw improve from the start of the year to the end of the year, and that’s really the goal of the Knights program.”

Like in previous years, graduating members from the Knights organization will move onto ‘AA’ ball with the Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs.

Hoping to return to the local American Legion system next year, Hall said Saturday’s loss ultimately will provide a better learning experience than any blowout win would.

“It’s really great to be in that high-pressure situation and just see how you can take it,” he said. “I’ve been on a lot of those, some of them I’m not too happy with the outcome. But, I was pretty happy with this one today.”

Vauxhall’s victory

Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

It was a battle of American Legion titans in Sunday’s championship final meanwhile, with the top-ranked Vauxhall Spurs earning a North District title with a 10-4 victory over the Lewistown Redbirds.

Trailing by a 3-1 score after four innings, the Spurs found their offensive groove with nine runs crossing home plate over just the final three innings of action.

Grady Honess and Carson Cleland each had a pair of RBIs in the championship victory, punching Vauxhall’s ticket to the Alberta/Montana State Championships next week.

Short stop Johnny Vulcano said their battles with Lewistown have made for exciting baseball all season.

“We battled with them all season,” said Vulcano. “They and Lethbridge were the only teams that we lost to all year, so it was great winning against them. “Definitely a great ball team, well coached, a lot of talent on that team.”

Lewistown will be joining Vauxhall at the state tournament, earning the North District’s second seed up for grabs.

Offence was spread out fairly evenly Sunday for the Spurs, with eight players combining for the team’s nine hits in the gold medal win.

Something that Vulcano said showcased the team’s buy in at the plate, which has been on display all year.

“We’re like a big canoe,” he said. “If one guy sticks his paddle in the water, that’s going to ruin the whole boat. That’s basically what got us here.”

Sunday’s championship was a family affair for Vulcano and his two brothers Adam and Aaron, clinching the North District title on the same team.

Spanning three years in age, the elder Johnny said it’s a special day for his family.

“I’ve never actually had a chance to play with these two guys at all through my life because of age difference and whatnot,” said Vulcano. “But, being on a team with them, learning from each other, teaching each other, it’s just been awesome.”

The Spurs and Redbirds will represent the North District at the Class ‘A’ State Tournament, which will run from July 27-31 from Florence, Montana.