It’s Portage vs. Carberry in SCBL Final

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Published on Monday, July 30, 2018

By Eoin Devereux

Neepawa Banner & Press

Despite losing, the Neepawa Cubs can take some solace in knowing they pushed the Portage Padres to their absolute limit and that they’ll likely get another crack at them come the Provincials in mid-August. But until that time, it’s the Padres who have bragging rights, as well as a shot at the SCBL Championship.

Portage cemented that chance at the title thanks to an 8-6 extra innings win over Neepawa on Wednesday, July 18.

The game proved to be a tremendous back-and-forth battle. After some early scoring, both pitching staff settled down in the final few innings of the game. Neepawa’s Garrett Rempel and Portage’s Dylan Donald came into the game as relief pitchers and allowed no runs over the final three innings.

The Cubs did have an incredible opportunity to win in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runners on second and third and just one out. A line drive hit directly back to Donald, however, was able to generate a shocking double play and send the contest into extra innings.

For the SCBL, Baseball Canada rules would come into play. Those rules state that runners will start on first and second base and the teams will proceed as normal. The Padres were up first and scored a pair. In the bottom of the inning, the Cubs were blanked and lost 8-6.

Portage now moves on to the league finals where they will face the Carberry Royals. Carberry made it into the championship by sweeping the Minnedosa Mavericks 2-games-to-none. Game one of final will take place on Friday, July 27 inPortage la Prairie.