The Macklin Lakers senior baseball club made sure they didn't come home empty-handed from an 1800 KM round trip to Baseball Sask Tier 3 provincials in Carnduff this past weekend. The Lakers earned a spot in the championship final against the host Carnduff Astros and pulled away late for a 10-6 win to take home the title.
The Lakers must not have had any road legs as they took a 10-0 win against the Redvers Athletics in their tournament opener on Friday afternoon, moving to 2-0 on Saturday morning as Macklin was first on the diamond for a big 8-1 win over the North East Red Sox.
The Lakers took their first loss on Saturday night 6-1 against Carnduff, but bounced back on Sunday morning with a 7-5 win against the South East Diamondbacks to set up a rematch with the host Astros in the provincial final.
The Lakers were given a stellar performance in the finals by "young buck" Hudson Krieger, who pitched six strong innings and also pitched in a key hit offensively with a bases clearing triple in the sixth inning. Carrying a healthy lead into the final inning, Cody Gartner came in for the Lakers to close things down just like he did in the league final on Wednesday.
"Once again the boys have done it!" shared the club on social media. "Thank you to everyone who supported the team and have followed us throughout the year! That’s all for this season, make sure to tune in next summer," ended the Sunday post.
The win capped off quite the season for the Lakers. Not only did Macklin defend their Battle River Baseball League title for a third straight year, but they also only lost two games on their way to the finals, the round-robin defeat against Carnduff only their third total on the season.
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Tier 2 and Tier 4 provincials were also held this weekend. The Tier 4 tournament in Hanley saw the Rosetown Angels lose a high scoring game in the finals, while the Tier 2 title was decided by one run as Assiniboia beat Findlater 7-6 to take home the gold.