Angels Take Title at Bender Fields

The Abbotsford Angels Mosquito A team travelled south to Lynden, Washington for the “Last Chance of the Summer” Tournament at Bender Fields.  With the Provincial Championships in Victoria looming in the next week, and the Qualifying schedule complete last week, the Angels were hoping for some final tune-up games.  The team was also hoping to get lots of playing time for everyone at a variety of positions, including getting each player some innings on the mound.  The fact that the team went 4-0 and won the tournament was a bonus!

In the first game the Angels took on Stanwood, a team from Washington, just north of Seattle.  This team figured to be the biggest challenge for the Angels, and that was the case, as the teams battled hard before Abby earned a 9-8 victory.  Doubles from Tyson Dyck and Kaleb Pruden were highlights, as was some strong pitching from Trey Gairdner and Kian Dobson. Jimmy Boulanger showed great poise under pressure as he came in with the tying run at the plate and proceeded to strike him out. When the next batter got aboard on an error, Jimmy stayed calm and struck out the last batter to seal the win.

In the next two games the Angels took on Little League teams from the North Shore, Highlands and Mt. Seymour.  In both games the Angels were able to experiment with pitching and positions and still come away with victories. The Highland game was the most dramatic, as Kaleb Pruden stole home to win the game in a walk-off in the final inning. Against Mt. Seymour the Angels got doubles from Sammy Friess and Jimmy Boulanger, and triples from Kaleb Pruden and Ryan Sullivan.

With the Mt. Seymour game complete, the Angels had just minutes to grab a snack before starting the Final in a rematch with Stanwood.  Jakob Loewen got the team off to a great start on the mound. But the Angels bats were quiet for the first couple of innings, and the team trailed 3-2 heading into the third.  Ronan Sexton came in to pitch three shutout innings where the Stanwood batters went down quickly. A huge moment came as the leadoff batter in the 5th took advantage of multiple errors to get to third base, but as he tried to stretch it home he was gunned down on a perfect strike from Right Fielder Mattias Meleg to Catcher Kaleb Pruden.

That was as close as they would get to mounting a comeback.  The Angels bats woke up and got 4 runs in the 3rd and 4 runs in the 5th to break the game open. The Angels ran wild on the bases, highlighted by speedster Lockhart MacGregor’s two runs.   Kian Dobson came in to close out the  6th inning with 3 strikeouts.  With the 10-3 victory the Angels were the “Last Chance Tournament” Champions.

Now the team makes its final preparations for the Provincial Championships in Victoria starting on August 31st.  There will be some formidable teams to face at the tournament, but the team is looking forward to the challenge!