Morning Star Staff
The Central Okanagan Sun Devils stopped the Vernon Canadians 5-1 in Sunday’s semifinal of the C’s home Bantam AA baseball tournament at Marshall Field.
Sapion Joe struck out seven and gave up two earned runs with dynamic defensive support from Hayden Lewis, Nolan Stein and Matthew Hansen.
Nakoda Parker was 2-for-3 with a triple and Liam Alstad tried to mount a comeback in the seventh with a double.
The Sun Devils bounced Burnaby Braves 5-3 in Sunday’s final.
The Canadians started things on Canada Day with an 8-7 win over the Penticton Tigers. Joe had a stellar outing, fanning seven batters and allowing only two earned runs over four innings.
He got defensive support from Ben Fortems at second base, Hansen at shortstop and Alstad at first. Colby Geiger jumpstarted the third with a walk, followed by RBI-singles by Alstad and Fortems for a three-run inning.
Vernon exploded for the maximum four runs in the bottom of four, again with a lead-off walk from Geiger, followed by a single from Gamage and then doubles from Nakoda Parker, Alstad (2 RBI) and Hansen with what proved to be the winning RBI.
Penticton mounted a comeback in the sixth only to be shut down by Gamage with two final K’s.
Vernon brushed back North Island 13-8 Friday night.
Almost every Vernon player scored a run with Lewis and Hansen both 2-for-3 and Cole Hutchison and Geiger each 2-for-2.
Gamage put on a hitting clinic with a pair of doubles, a single and two runs.
Hutchison and Ryan Vandesande handled the hill Saturday morning in a 7-2 loss to Burnaby.Vandesande scored once.
The Canadians played one of their most exciting games (and most important to try to qualify for provincials) of the season in a comeback 5-4 win over the Sun Devils, a combined Rutland-Kelowna entry.
Gamage pitched five of the six innings, striking out three but also inducing a lot of ground and fly outs. The fifth inning saw Stein with an important lead-off base on balls, followed by Geiger with a single.
Vandesande smacked a two-run double into right field, followed by an RBI-double from Hansen and the eventual winning RBI-double from Gamage.
Fortems took to the mound in the final at bats for the Devils and came up with a gutsy play to Hutchison to throw the tying run out at home. Hutchison, Parker and Alstad also had huge defensive games.
n Vernon took three of four B.C. Midget AAA League games, sweeping the Burnaby Bulldogs 12-1 and 7-2 Saturday before dispatching the South Fraser Giants 6-1 and losing 10-0 Sunday.
Tyler Wellman (6-2) tossed a three-hitter, while Ethan Huizinga drove in three runs with a single and double, scored three times and swiped one base in Game 1 versus the Dawgs.
Jake O’Quinn was 3-for-4 with a double, three ribbies and two stolen bases, while Jared Leroux rapped two singles, scored twice and swiped one bag. Tyler Liefke supplied two singles and three stolen bases.
Jared Leroux went six strong innings before Huizinga pitched a flawless seventh as the Canadians ruled the second game at McLeod Park.
O’Quinn tripled, doubled and had one RBI, while Liefke was 1-for-2 with two walks and four stolen bases, giving him 40 on the season. Burnaby dropped to 15-16.
“The boys had a two-week break between games and showed up hungry,” said Vernon coach Ken Liefke. “Our defence was unreal and we hit the ball hard. Jake was crushing everything and Ty was excellent on the mound.”
Corey Anderson (7-2) fanned five as the C’s gonged the Giants (12-17).
Caden Doyle was 2-for-4, crushing a three- run opposite field home run to right center. Liefke was 2-for-2, knocking a towering two-run shot over the right field fence to put Vernon up 5-0. Dylan Eckland was 1-for-1 and got hit by pitch twice, scoring twice, while Huizinga supplied an RBI-double.
“Our defense was stellar once again,” said coach Liefke. “Ty Wellman threw out five of the six runners that tried to steal on him; his arm was like a cannon behind the plate.”
South Fraser touched Doyle for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, none of them earned, in the nightcap. Eric Embleton doubled, while Huizinga hit a pair of singles at Surrey Athletic Park.
Vernon (20-12) visits the first-place Victoria Eagles and the second-place Richmond City Chuckers this weekend.
