Emotions were running high Thursday at the North Regina Little League diamonds.
A very enthusiastic crowd delivered rapturous applause as North Regina — the host team for the Canadian Little League baseball championship — claimed the title with a 4-3 victory over Vancouver’s Little Mountain Baseball in the final of the tournament.
North Regina now will represent Canada at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The tournament for baseball players between the ages of 10 and 12 is to begin Wednesday, with Canada’s first game slated for Thursday.
“I’m really excited. It’s pretty cool,” said 12-year-old Jackson Bilboe, who noted he was feeling a combination of nerves and excitement. “It’s going to be something I’ll never forget.”
It’s the first time since 2002 that a team from the North Regina Little League organization has won the Canadian title and made it to the Little League World Series tournament.
The B.C. champions were 7-0 in the Canadian championship entering Thursday’s final. North Regina was 4-3, with one of those losses a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver-based team on Aug. 1 – the first day of the tournament’s round-robin.
North Regina actually had a tough start to the tournament, losing its first three round-robin games. But Braeden McQueen never lost hope.
“We just kept grinding and winning one game at a time, one pitch at a time,” he said.
North Regina won three straight games to wrap up the round-robin and then beat Quebec in a semifinal Wednesday.
The hosts fell behind 1-0 in the final before a four-run inning gave them the lead. The B.C. champions scored two in the top of the sixth, but couldn’t get the tying run across the plate.
North Regina head coach Cole Warken said it felt very surreal to get the win. He was very proud of the team’s effort.
“This whole weekend, the boys have been fighting back,” Warken said.
“We started off the tournament 0-3 and it came down to two strikes and two outs and the last inning of the fourth game. We walked them off and we actually walked off the final three games and even the semifinal as well.”
North Regina’s Nickson Hjelsing said he’s very excited about going to Williamsport.
“It felt really good,” he said.
The team will hop on a flight on Saturday.
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