The Rutland Rockies shaded the Vernon Kal Tire Canadians 4-3 in Sunday’s final of the Rutland Midget Baseball Classic.
Longtime rivals Shelby Hartwig of the C’s and Cory McCoy of Rutland went head-to-head on the mound. Hartwig struck out eight batters and McCoy fanned seven with both pitching the maximum six innings and giving up three runs.
Rutland brought in the winning run with two out in the final inning.
Jacob Holland was game MVP for Kal Tire. He caught 35 innings on the weekend.
The C’s stopped the Kelowna White Sox 7-1 in Sunday morning’s semifinals. Dylan Emmons was clutch on the mound going 6 2/3 innings before maxing out on pitches. Diego Oliver went 2-for-3 with three RBI and earn game MVP.
Vernon lost 7-3 to the Rutland Black Sox and recovered for a 12-7 win over Kelowna in Saturday games. Kristian Currie was game MVP in the loss.
Hartwig (4 RBI) and Brendon Zupp were strong on the mound for Kal Tire versus Kelowna. Emmons and Currie each had two RBI.
The C’s opened the classic by taming the South Okanagan Tigers of Penticton 10-0. Game MVP Emmons struck out 10 of the 13 hitters he faced to get the win. Oliver and Tyler Lacktin Doyle each delivered two RBI.
In league play Tuesday night, the Midget AA Canadians defeated West Kelowna D-Backs 13-2.
Mitchell Lukacs was on the mound and had a strong game in his third start of the year. Hartwig supplied four RBI and Mitchell added three.
The C’s are coached by Darren Zupp.
