WSBL playoffs postponed due to Elmwood’s nationals trip

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This article was published 25/08/2022 (1383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

by CASSIDY DANKOCHIK

In a season filled with delays, it’s appropriate the Carillon Sultans senior squad’s post-season is chalk full of them.

The Winnipeg Senior Baseball League (WSBL) team won’t be finishing off their first-round series against the Elmwood Giants until Sept. 1. The Giants are heading to Nova Scotia to compete at nationals, leaving the Sultans to sit and wait at home. The three-game series is tied at one after the teams split games one and two Aug. 16 and 17.

The first game of the series was also postponed due to rain.

“We’re going to use (the time) to rest our arms, we’re going to use it to have some batting practice, re-focus a little bit,” Carillon player/coach Jared Esau said after game two.

“I think the rest will be good for us actually, but it is kind of weird.”

It was a tough game one for Carillon, who lost despite outhitting Elmwood. The Sultans could only generate four runs on 12 hits, and gave up 10 of their own.

“We played okay, but we allowed too many runs,” Esau said on the first game of the series.

Carillon extended the series in dramatic fashion, winning in extra innings thanks to a Nick Wall walk-off base hit. The Sultans jumped out to a 4-1 lead before the Giants battled back to tie the game and force extra innings.

In the top of the eighth inning Elmwood took control, scoring twice, but Carillon was able to not only erase the deficit in the bottom half but win the game after Wall’s single scored two runners.

“It’s hard to score three runs in one inning when you need to do it,” Esau said.

“The biggest thing was the first guy getting a hit. We have a very dangerous lineup top to bottom, so we can always do that, and we’ve done it over and over again, but when the pressure’s on, it’s really easy to go three up, three down.”

All playoff games in the WSBL are played in Winnipeg, even if they’re home games for out of town teams, due to the lack of floodlights on fields outside the perimeter.

Esau guessed game three will be played at Koskie Field.