18U Sultans finish off memorable season at nationals

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This article was published 25/08/2022 (1418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

by CASSIDY DANKOCHIK

It all came down to one game for the Carillon Sultans at the 18U National Championships in Fort McMurray, Alta.

After defeating Newfoundland and Labrador 11-0 to open the tournament, they settled in for a showdown with Saskatchewan later that same day. The team would lose a 3-2 contest in extra innings, leaving them in tough to make the playoff round of nationals.

They lost to New Brunswick 13-3 the next day and then beat Nova Scotia to finish with a 2-2 record in pool play.

Manitoba’s representative would have needed a 3-1 record to finish in a playoff position.

“We had some really good baseball games, one frustrating one in particular,” head coach Jamieson Krentz said after returning home Aug. 23.

“(The Saskatchewan game) changed the shape of the tournament. That one stung. I think we thought we could get into some meaningful games.”

Even before the tournament, Carillon knew the all-prairie match-up would be critical for their tournament hopes. As they were placed outside of the ‘power pool,’ the Sultans needed to finish first in their group to make the semi-finals, or second in the group to make the quarter-finals.

“We had (Saskatchewan) circled as the one we needed, and we went after it with our best two arms,” Krentz said.

“The most frustrating part is we kind of handed it to them. There was a couple errors in the one inning they got their two runs, a base-running mistake in the eighth inning… we couldn’t cash runners in, that was the story all weekend.”

The Sultans 30 runs across five games was deceptive, as 23 of those runs came in two innings, offensive outbursts against Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Krentz said Cedric Lagasse was “his typical self,” hitting lead-off and providing solid innings on the mound in critical games. Legasse has played at nationals in the past, as a pickup player for other Manitoba teams and that experience let him shine, including pitching a complete game shutout against Nova Scotia.

One of Carillon’s pickups had a great tournament of his own, with the Midwest region’s Alex Klassen hitting 0.500 across nationals.

“The amount of hits and walks and base-runners we had across the games, you would have thought we would have scored a lot more runs,” Krentz said.

“It was just that we couldn’t get that clutch hit when we needed it.”

Krentz said the team’s schedule allowed lots of free time for the players to take in the sights and sounds of the region.

“The host committee did a fantastic job,” Krentz said.

“The facilities were literally out of this world.”

Carillon’s nationals run is the end of the line for a group which brought the first provincial championship to the region in nearly two decades.

Four players from this team, Lagasse, Brady Papineau, Ryan Powers and Cody Gunderson (who couldn’t make the trip to Alberta), will be continuing their baseball careers at post-secondary schools.

Krentz said he is also planning on taking a step back from coaching, but will always remember this team’s final moments together, inside the Winnipeg airport as they returned from their final tournament of the year.

“We were going our separate ways, and the guys are hugging — I’ve never seen that with an 18U team,” he said.

“It goes to show you how they really came together this year.”