Junior Sultans ready for semis after first round bye

Editor’s note: This story was written to be published in the July 17 edition of The Carillon

The Carillon Sultans didn’t know who their opponents will be in the league semi-finals, but the Manitoba Junior Baseball League’s pennant-winners are ready to defend last year’s championship.

The Sultans earned the top spot in the standings and a first-round playoff bye in less than dramatic fashion last week. Needing a win on the final day of the regular season to clinch top spot, the Interlake Blue Jays didn’t bring enough players to field a team July 9, forfeiting the final game of the regular season and giving the Sultans the one win they needed to finish ahead of the Elmwood Giants in the standings.

“We had to win, and we expected to win that game anyway,” manager Rick Penner said.

“It’s not like we didn’t have a good shot at it.”

Carillon was waiting for the result from game three of one of the quarterfinal series to see who they will be playing, as the Winnipeg South Wolves and Pembina Valley Orioles played a deciding game three of their series after press time July 16.

Elmwood made short work of Altona and St Boniface came back from a game one loss in the league’s other two quarterfinals.

The Giants and Sultans, last year’s league finalists, have been battling for top spot in the standings for the entire season, splitting the four regular season games they played.

The Orioles finished five games behind Elmwood, in just a 24-game season. The top two teams run difference was impressive as well, with the Sultans (97) and Giants (123) more than five times higher than Pembina Valley.

Despite those numbers, Penner isn’t counting out the underdog in either of the league’s best-of-five semi-final series.

“We’ve got play those games, you get some hot pitchers or some hot bats, and who knows what will happen,” Penner said.

“There’s no gimmie here next round.”

The 2024 finals came down to a winner-takes-all game five hosted at A.D. Penner Park, and by winning the league pennant, Carillon will get that privilege again if they reach the finals.

“To be able to start at home and finish at home in the finals, that’s something we wanted,” Penner said.

“We saw that success last year and wanted to replicate that this year.”

Penner added he thinks the team’s pitching rotation is even better than it was last year, with their usual deep line-up ready to hit. Carillon’s bottom two hitters in the order combined for a 5/7 day at the plate in their 13-3 game five victory to win the championship in 2024.

“We like the playoff experience we got last year,” Penner said.

“I think everybody doesn’t feel like they’ve got to own all that pressure by themselves at the plate… It’s not like you have to carry (offense) for your team, because the next person up is going to do their job too. I think that really helps confidence.”

Carillon is balancing a potential run to the finals with their appearance at the 22U national championships, which begin Aug. 7, just days after a potential game five in the MJBL finals. While most of the work to select pick-up players is done, Penner still has one more addition to make after one of the team’s initial picks couldn’t make it.

“We’ll probably go with a smaller group than some other provinces, but we should still have a pretty good pick-ups for pitching and some position players to help us out,” Penner said, noting the deadline to finalize rosters and travel plans was next week. Nationals take place in Nova Scotia this year.

Carillon will either play St Boniface or Winnipeg South in the best-of five semi-finals. Games one, three and five (if necessary) are scheduled to take place at A.D. Penner Thursday, Sunday and Wednesday, with away games set for Friday and Tuesday.