Two massive home runs by Reece Melnick helped the bantam AA Cowichan Valley Mustangs clinch top spot in the Island league last Saturday.
Melnick swatted two homers to centre field at Doc Lewis Park in Chemainus — about 365 feet — accounting for five RBIs in the Mustangs’ 12-2 six-inning mercy win over Triangle in the first game of a doubleheader. The win locked up first place in the league for the Mustangs, who had already qualified for provincials.
“There hadn’t been a home run hit by a bantam out of that park since 2008,” Cowichan head coach Mike Rochon said. “Then it happens twice in one game. And he’s a first-year bantam. That’s a monster shot, and he did it twice. His motivation was that it was his dad’s birthday.”
Melnick’s power show wasn’t the only standout performance of the game as Mateo Iorio pitched a six-inning, 67-pitch compete game for the win.
With nothing on the line, the Mustangs lost 8-3 in the second half of the doubleheader as they moved players to unfamiliar positions.
“The second game didn’t mean anything to us, since we had already captured the championship,” Rochon said.
As nice as it was to win the Island league title, the Mustangs have their sights set higher, taking aim at the provincial championship. To help prepare for that, they played a pair of exhibition games on Sunday against the Ridge Meadows Royals, who sit atop the Lower Mainland bantam AA league and will host the provincial tournament. The Mustangs lost two close games, the second one on a disputed call at home plate.
“They’re a really good team,” Rochon said of the Royals. “They have enough population there, I’m surprised they don’t have an AAA team.”
The Mustangs gave themselves a chance to win both games.
“We beat ourselves,” Rochon said. “Of 14 innings, we played really solid for 12.”
Cowichan trailed 8-0 in the first game, but clawed back to make it a respectable 8-6.
Hunter Livingston pitched five innings of shutout ball in the second game, which the Mustangs lost 5-4. The game was knotted at 0-0 after five innings, but Cowichan scored four times in the top of the sixth, sparked by a three-run triple by Matt Simpson. A series of errors allowed the Royals to come back with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
The Mustangs had the tying run on third in the top of the seventh and tried a squeeze bunt, only to have their runner called out at home — a decision the Mustangs didn’t agree with. Rochon is hoping for another shot at the Royals.
“It was a spirited and feisty game,” he said. “We look forward to seeing them at provincials.”
The bantam AA Mustangs have a chance to do some damage at the B.C. tournament, their coach believes.
“Our big quest is to finish well at provincials and move on to Westerns,” Rochon said. “We’ve got the team to do it. We’ve just got to play seven strong innings, and we can do it. There’s not a team we can’t compete with if we go out there and play our game.”
