The Okotoks Dawgs are crowned the 2024 WCBL Champions and complete the three-peat on a walk-off home run by hometown hero Connor Crowson at Seaman Stadium Saturday night, in a 6-5 win over the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
Game three of the best-of-three finals came down to a thrilling finish, which could also be said about the Dawgs' playoff run as a whole. Each series would come down to a final game, from Ricky Sanchez getting a walk-off bunt in the bottom of the thirteenth inning in game three against the Lethbridge Bulls, to the Dawgs putting up 10 runs in game three of the second round while on the road in Sylvan Lake, then winning the WCBL championship with a walk-off home run in the ninth inning from Crowson against Moose Jaw.
Crowson took home the MVP of the playoffs after his late-game heroics in game three of the 2024 WCBL finals.
2024 WCBL All-Star and veteran pitcher Graham Brunner took the mound to start the game in a storybook ending for his final game in the WCBL. Brunner who has been on the Dawgs roster every year since 2017 pitched for four and two-third innings and put up seven strikeouts for his final time on the mound. The fans at Seaman Stadium gave Brunner a standing ovation as he walked off the mound and he would tip his hat to the crowd to give thanks for the support.
Aaron Hammer, Garrett Maloney, Zane Morrison, Cade Herrmann, Gavin Wuschke, and Easton Corey came into the game as relievers. Herrmann who played in every game during the playoffs finished with a 0.00 ERA in the postseason. Corey finished the game with two strikeouts in one and two-third innings pitched.
The Dawgs opened the scoring with a run at the bottom of the first. Jarrett Burney picked up the first RBI on a single to right field scoring Sanchez in for the first run of the ball game.
Sanchez picked up his second run of the game and the second run for the Dawgs in game three at the bottom of the third. Tucker Zdunich hit a double getting Sanchez across home plate.
Logan Grants followed that up with a double of his own at the bottom of the fourth and got Crowson in for a run making it 3-0 Dawgs.
The Miller Express tied things up at 3-3 at the top of the fifth inning, Dawgs responded with a run at the bottom of the inning to take the lead back. "Mr. August" Brendan Luther got across home plate for the run on a sacrifice fly by Zdunich.
Aidan Rose gave the Dawgs a 5-3 lead at the bottom of the seventh after getting a run in. Moose Jaw made things interesting at the top of the eighth tying the game at 5-5 with two runs.
The Dawgs ended the game on a spectacular finish from Crowson who smashed a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to complete the three-peat.
