Mavericks beat Cubs in semi final thriller
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Cubs catcher Cam Tibbett blocks the plate, as Mavericks player Jay Klym prepares to slide in the 4th inning of the 3rd & deciding game of the SCBL semi-final. Neepawa would get the out at the plate.
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
The Minnedosa Mavericks have advanced to the Santa Clara Baseball League championship series. The Mavs eliminated the Neepawa Cubs in the third and deciding game of their semi-final series on Tuesday, Aug. 2, with a 7-6 win in Minnedosa.
Earlier in the series, Minnedosa was able to claim game one by a score of 4-2, while Neepawa bounced back in commanding fashion, with an 11-5 victory on Monday, Aug 1. This third game would turn out to be a closely contested back and forth between a pair of evenly matched clubs.
After remaining a scoreless tie in the first two innings, the Cubs claimed the lead by notching one run in the third, followed by a two run homer by Garrett Rempel in the top of the fourth.
The lead was short lived however, as the Mavericks replied in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own, tying the score at 3-3. Neepawa escaped the fourth, as Minnedosa loaded the bases, but couldn’t translate those hits into runs.
After the Cubs were unable to reply at the plate in the top of the fifth, the Mavericks quickly followed up their fourth inning flourish with another three run effort, making it a 6-3 score heading into the sixth.
Facing a difficult challenge, Neepawa responded with a remarkable effort, getting a pair of players on base with two outs. At that moment, Garrett Rempel returned to the plate and belted a timely three run dinger; his second home run of the game, making it a 6-6 score. In the bottom of the sixth, however, Minnedosa was able to get on base and advance a runner into scoring position. From there, Maverick Andrew Richards hit the go-ahead single in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the lead, making it a 7-6 score going into the final inning.
With just one final opportunity, Neepawa was unable to find the seams in the Minnedosa defence and went three up, three down to end the contest, and the series, in the Maverick’s favour.
The Minnedosa Mavericks will now face the Portage Padres in the Santa Clara Baseball League finals, after the Padres swept the Plumas Pirates in the other semifinal series. As of Wednesday, Aug. 3, the finals schedule between Minndosa and Portage had not yet been announced.
