Braves dominate larger competition to win provincials

La Broquerie’s École Saint-Joachim and St Pierre-Jolys’ École Communautaire Réal-Bérard may be a pair of small French schools, but that didn’t stop them from dominating their competition at the Manitoba High School Athletic Association fastpitch championships in Stonewall May 30/31.

The team went undefeated at the tournament, blasting past AAAA school Vincent Massey (Brandon) 11-3 in the finals, hosted at Stonewall Quarry Park.

“We’re talking about maybe 250 students,” coach Pat Tetrault said after the game.

“We don’t make for quantity we make for quality… There’s some tough schools, some good teams out here.”

The Braves took control of the final early, bouncing back after surrendering a two-run home run in the first inning to plate eight runs of their own in the bottom half.

Brynn Maynard’s double scored three, turning a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 advantage which never looked in danger of evaporating.

Annabelle Tetrault pitched all five innings of the game for the Braves, before being named the tournament’s most valuable player. She gave up six hits and finished with three strikeouts, including two in the first inning after surrendering the home run and one for the final out of the game.

“It’s amazing, because I don’t think we had to say much. When the ball went over the fence in the first inning, for some reason the team didn’t panic,” coach Tetrault said on the early comeback.

“(If) we got out of that inning and back on the sticks, we were confident we could get back into this game… next thing you know, we’re up six, seven runs and cruising to victory.”

Saint-Joachim have only won a single MHSAA banner in their history, the 2000/2001 girls’ golf championship. Réal-Bérard have never won a provincial championship.

“For the small schools to not only compete but somewhat dominate and win is somewhat unbelievable,” Tetrault said.

The Braves one near hiccup came in their quarterfinal game early in the morning May 31, as the team surrendered four runs in the top of the top of the first to Prairie Mountain. Saint-Joachim responded with 10 runs of their own in their first three innings, eventually winning 10-8.

That offensive outburst over the season was powered by a deep hitting line-up. Every player on the team was a threat at the plate, no matter what their spot in the batting order was, with all players reaching base at least once in the final.

“They showed up every day wanting to hit, believing in themselves and their buddies,” Tetrault said.

“Everybody that went up to the plate knew if they just tried and concentrated and just swung… they would be successful.”

The final MHSAA action of the school year is this weekend, as the provincial track and field championships are held in Winnipeg June 5-7.

For more photos from the weekend, be sure to check out second shots at the Carillon’s website, published every Wednesday.