The Okotoks Dawgs came through with a 9-7 victory over the Lethbridge Bulls tonight at Seaman Stadium.
The Bulls have been chasing the Dawgs in the standings and have traded wins with Okotoks all season. With the Dawgs' win, they now trail the Gulls by two games for the top spot in the WCBL West Division and have a three-game lead over the Bulls. The Dawgs and Lethbridge will meet two more times in the final stretch of games before the season's end.
Blake Crippin started on the mound and pitched four and one-third innings. Chase Tucker, Cade Herrmann, Gavin Wuschke, Aaron Hammer, Zane Morrison, and Ashton Luera came in as relievers.
Hammer, Morrison, and Luera were lights out on the mound getting a combined eight strikeouts in three innings between them. Luera continued to dominate at the mound, closing the game with three strikeouts, three up, and three down.
Lethbridge opened the scoring at the top of the first cashing in for three runs. The Dawgs answered back at the bottom of the inning with three runs over their own and tying the game up at three.
Brendan Luther hit a double which has been a staple of his game all season. Ricky Sanchez followed that up with a single getting Luther in for the first run for Okotoks.
Logan Grant would hit a sacrifice fly to score Ricky Sanchez in for a run shortly after Tucker Zdunich and Jarrett Burney got on base. Connor Crowson finished the Dawgs scoring off in the inning after hitting a single and getting Burney across home plate.
The Dawgs took their first lead of the ball game thanks to Grant hitting a double at the bottom of the third. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch getting in a prime scoring position. Nash "Bash" Crowell followed that up with a double of his own and getting Grant in for a run.
Okotoks added to their lead with a run at the bottom of the fourth. Alejandro Cazorla would score the run on a wild pitch with Sanchez up to bat.
The Bulls took the lead back with three runs at the top of the fifth, making it a 6-5 ball game. It was short-lived as the Dawgs got their two-run lead back at the bottom of the sixth with three runs.
Cazorla hit a solo home run for the first run of the sixth. Luther and Burney would get the final two runs of the inning to go up 8-6 against Lethbridge.
The Bulls would keel over as they put one more run in at the top of the seventh. The Dawgs wouldn't let up either getting the game's final run at the bottom of the eighth from Burney who hit a double and then scored on a wild pitch.
The Dawgs will host the Fort McMurray Giants tomorrow night at Seaman Stadium to continue to final stretch toward the 2024 WCBL post-season. Game time is set for 7:05 pm.