The Hytec Red Sox opened up the Mosquito baseball playoffs by dusting off the Dairy Queen Ducks 10-1 Monday night at Lakeview Park.
Tanner Hanson smacked a two-out grand slam, the first home run of his career, in the fifth inning. Hytec opened the scoring in the first inning when Vincent Sanfilippo singled on the first pitch to bring in two runs.
Turner Hayward started on the mound for the Sox, striking out three over one inning. Anthony Sanfilippo pitched in relief throwing one inning, allowing two hits and zero runs while striking out two and walking one. Devin Sorensen, Vincent Sanfilippo and Drew Christensen all came out of the bullpen.
Evan Kashuba of Dairy Queen pitched a solid one and two-thirds innings, striking out five while going 2-for-3 at the dish. Tanner Orten and Grady Barg each contributed in relief.
It was 2-1 until the fourth when a double by Christensen and singles by Everett Brown and Sorensen gave the Red Sox a 6-1 lead.
Vincent Sanfilippo joined Hanson as a member of the Bash Brothers with a towering grand slam to centre field as the Red Sox capped the regular season Friday with a comeback 12-7 victory over the Ducks.
Kashuba drove in two runs as the Ducks struck in the first inning. The Sox responded with one in the bottom half on an RBI-single by Vincent Sanfilippo. The Ducks answered in the second with a two-run, line-drive double by Quinn Maglio, and in the third on solid at-bats from Ewan Radbourne, Jason Mckelvey, and Sawyer Lehr. Luke Porter knocked in a run in the third to make it 7-3 Dairy Queen.
A leadoff walk by Hanson and an RBI-triple to deep left by Hayward touched off a four-run third by the Sox, tying things 7-7. Quinn Maglio led off the Dairy Queen fourth with a single but was cut down trying to steal second by Hytec catcher Everett Brown.
The Pumpro Broncos scared away the rain Monday night and upended the Tim Hortons Blue Rays 11-5 in other Mosquito playoff action.
The Broncos’ pitching staff was steady, led by lefty Nixon Swanson and Chayton Hauberg, and the cleanup crew of Kaleb Murray and Morgan Hackman held the Blue Rays’ offence to one hit over four innings. Ari Manson, Ashton Matchett and MacKenzie Dewhirst led the Bronco offence with solid at-bats and smart baserunning.
Morgan Hackman led the fifth inning off with a solid line-drive single followed up by a nuked home run over the centre field wall by Kaleb Murray. Bryce Cormier, Kai Vajda and Kaelem Hogan Keyes were dynamite defensively.
The Vernon Hytec Canadians bowed 13-12 to the host Salmon Arm Selects in Pee Wee playoff action Wednesday night.
The Selects rang up eight runs in the first two innings as the C’s committed some defensive errors.
Nolan Smyth hit a 270-foot home run with an exit velocity of 119 km/ hour to get the Hytec crew moving. The Canadians stranded the tying run at third in the final inning.
Smyth finished 2-for-3 with two ribbies, while Tyson Matthews drove in two runs on two hits and Kia Malenzia knocked in one run on two hits.
Dylan McGee-Hatalcik threw 39 pitches and struck out three while allowing eight runs. Kohen Molde threw 23 pitches in short relief, giving up two runs, while Leland Robertson-Haupstein tossed 51 pitches and set down four batters while allowing three runs.
The C’s face a must win in Game 2 of the double-knockout series Sunday (10 a.m.) at Creekside Park.
The Vernon Bantam AA Canadians swept a series with the North Langley Trappers 7-4 and 13-3 last weekend.
Blake McPherson took the Game 1 win, getting stellar relief from Matt Gehrmann. The pitching was also strong in the second game with Bennett Khunlein, Nickolas Hawthorne and Nahko Magpie getting it done.
Khunlein went 6-for-6 on the day, while Brydon Ching drilled a clutch bases-loaded triple, to highlight the marvellous Vernon attack.
