Sultans sweep St Boniface to lock up finals berth

Author’s Note: This story was written with a deadline of July 23.

The Carillon Sultans made short work of their semi-final series against the St Boniface Legionaires, setting up a chance for the club’s first ever back-to-back championships in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League.

In three games, the Sultans had three blowout victories, winning by a combined 36-5 in a 3-0 series win.

Any question a sweep of the best-of-five series wasn’t in the cards was put to bed early at A.D. Penner Park July 20, as Carillon plated 13 runs in the bottom of the first inning to clinch game three and the series.

Manager Rick Penner said the first was so long, it actually became a slog, as Legionaires made a first-inning pitching change, which did little to stop the damage.

“To get an early lead like that, give our pitcher that peace of mind that we’re in front, everyone can relax and play defense and keep going,” Penner said.

“It just takes pressure off everybody.”

Penner added the coaching staff emphasized not sitting back at the plate during the series when talking to the players, and they seemed to listen, with Carillon appearing to jump all over any pitch that would have been called a strike.

“Obviously (we’re) not chasing pitches and helping them out at all and being ready to go, and especially once we got runners on to be even more aggressive and try to drive them in and not waste opportunities when they’re there in front of us,” Penner said.

“One through nine, everybody was playing their role… It was a really good all around series, really balanced.”

Cedric Lagasse, Tyler Plett and Connor Martin all pitched complete games, as the Sultans didn’t turn to their bullpen once in the semis.

At the plate, Dayton Christensen led the way offensively, hitting 0.500 with four RBI’s throughout the series. Ryan Powers, who doesn’t hit with his college team, had a game one home run, a rare feat in the cavernous A.D. Penner field. Four Carillon players who appeared in all three games hit over 0.300, with Jackson Penner and Powers also raking across appearances in only two games. Cody Wielgosh circled the bases seven times throughout the series.

“Everybody was rolling right now, that’s really what we want going to the finals,” Penner said.

“We like our line-up right now, we like our chances. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re ready to go.”

Who that final will be played against was still up in the air at press time, as the Elmwood Giants are still locked in a battle with the Pembina Valley Orioles. Game four of their series, hosted July 22 in Winkler, had to be delayed due to darkness after the teams finished seven innings tied 4-4.

The teams picked up game four after press time at Koskie Field July 23, with Pembina Valley needing to win just to force a game five, which would take place right after the end of game four if the Orioles won.

The Giants had a 2-0 series lead, before Pembina Valley extended the series with a 10-9 win in game three July 20, which ended any hopes of starting the finals a day or two early.

The finals will now start as scheduled Friday, July 25, with Carillon also scheduled to host games three (July 29) and five (July 31). Penner guessed games three and five would have early evening start times to avoid any darkness concerns.

The league will announce winners of the 2025 year-end awards before game two of the finals. Brady Papineau is up for most valuable player and defensive player of the year, Dayton Christenson is a nominee for rookie of the year and Rick Penner could win manager of the year.

Carillon will be heading out to nationals right after the finals, no matter the result, as Manitoba sends last year’s league winners to the 22U National Championships.

The Winnipeg Senior Baseball League’s Carillon team is also into their finals, defeating Elmwood 2-0 in their semi-final series.