13U Carillon Sultans claim provincial championship

The future of the Carillon Sultans program is as bright as ever, as the program sent teams to both the 15U and 13U AAA Provincial finals Aug. 2.

The organization’s 15U team fell short in the final, surrendering 11 runs over two innings to fall well behind South Central in the final early.

The team finished just 16-13 during the Manitoba Premier Baseball League season, but caught fire at tier 1 provincials, rattling off three wins in their first four games to lock up a spot in the final before their final pool game of the tournament.

Both the 13U and 15U tier one and tier two tournaments took place at Optimist Park in Winnipeg.

The younger final provided a much more dramatic finish. The Sultans took on the Brandon Marlins, with the teams trading runs throughout the game, with Carillon coming out on top 13-8.

Players were challenged by high gusts of wind throughout the final, which blew up to 54 km/h Aug. 2 according to weatherstats.ca.

Carillon finished a strong 16-5 in the regular season, but trailed both Brandon and South Central in the standings. That didn’t stop them at provincials, as they claimed wins over both programs in pool play, as well as defeating top Zone 1 team Red River Valley.

The final against Brandon featured four lead changes, as Carillon ran Brandon’s starter out of pitches and plated nine runs in the bottom of the sixth. Five of those runs, including the game-tying, go-ahead and eventually winning run came with two outs on the scoreboard.

By winning provincials, the Sultans advance to the Western Canada Championships, which are set to be hosted in Ile des Chenes this year Aug. 14-16. The town will be hosting the 14U girls championship that weekend as well.

For more photos from the 13U/15U provincial championships, be sure to check out Carillon Sports Second Shots, published every Wednesday at www.thecarillon.com/sports.