Carillon Sultans claim western crown

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This article was published 19/08/2018 (2069 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cheered on by hundreds of their home supporters, the Carillon Sultans won the Western Canada Baseball Association 15U AA championship Sunday afternoon in La Broquerie, defeating the Tri-City Thunder from Port Coquitlam, B.C., by a 14-12 margin in a thrilling championship final.

This brought to a close an outstanding 15-team Western Canada AA Baseball Championship hosted in La Broquerie by the community of La Broquerie, La Broquerie Minor Baseball and the Carillon Minor Baseball Association.

In the other division finals on Sunday, the Olds Spitfires from Alberta doubled the SaskFive Giants 12-6 to win the 13U AA title.

The Carillon Sultans finished with a 1-3 round robin record. And the Prince George Knights blanked the Portage Pirates 10-0 to capture the 18U AA crown. The host Carillon Sultans had an 0-4 record in the tourney.

In the 15U championship game, the visiting Thunder jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Sultans quickly replied with four runs to tie it in the bottom of the inning as this tense, high-scoring, see-saw battle ensued for the next seven innings.

B.C. regained the lead with two runs in the second and then made it 7-4 in the top of the third. But then Carillon’s clutch power hitter Mason Hartung stepped up to the plate and drilled a two-run homer to narrow the Thunder lead to 7-6. It was Hartung’s fifth homer of the tourney. He also belted a key two-run shot earlier in the day in Carillon’s 4-1 victory over Saskatoon that punched their ticket to the finals.

A little gun shy after that third inning blast, Hartung was given intentional walks in his next three at bats in the championship game, but the rest of the Sultans, on cue, made them pay.

Four runs in the fourth gave the Sultans a 10-7 lead. But Tri-City responded with four runs in the top of the fifth to regain the lead, 11-10. The back and forth continued as the Sultans scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to go up 12-11.

Tri-City tied it 12-12 in the sixth, setting the stage for Carillon’s two winning runs in the bottom of the sixth.

In that earlier final round robin victory over Saskatoon, Rylan Penner was superb on the mound for the Sultans going the distance in a five-hitter, fanning seven in the 4-1 triumph.

Carillon opened the tournament Friday afternoon with a 6-3 victory over the Thunder, split their next two on Saturday, losing 7-2 to the Souris Cardinals and then defeated the Leduc Giants 10-2, before downing the Saskatoon Braves 4-1 on Sunday in that must-win game.