The Saskatoon Berries are doing their best to avoid an early expiration date.
Entering the playoffs with championship aspirations, the Berries avoided elimination on Saturday night with a 16-12 win against the Moose Jaw Miller Express, a rain-delayed Game 3 thriller that moved Saskatoon to the next round against the Regina Red Sox, where the Berries are already facing elimination again after a series opening loss on Sunday at home.
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After going down 1-0 in the East Division semi-final, the Berries bounced back in Moose Jaw for a 15-6 win in Game 2 to send the series back to Saskatoon, but rainy weather in the City of Bridges postponed the do-or-die game to Saturday.
While it had to wait a day, Game 3 was nothing short of a thriller. The Berries exploded with the bats early for a 10-3 lead through 7 innings, only to be met with a nine-run bottom of the 8th for Moose Jaw that gave the visiting Miller Express a 12-10 lead entering the final half-inning.
Down to their final strike, the Berries rallied to tie the game 12-12 and send it to extras. From there Noah McCombs pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, and then the Berries managed to load the bases in the bottom half, leading to a Carter Beck grand slam that gave the Berries a 16-12 walk-off win.
The immaculate vibes only lasted a few hours past midnight following Saturday night's action at Gordie Howe Sports Park, the Berries only getting a short turnaround before the rival Regina Red Sox arrived on Sunday for Game 1 of the West Final.
The Red Sox jumped on the Berries early for a 2-0 lead, and then increased that margin to 5-0 in the top of the third. Saskatoon's bats woke up in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-4, and then three more runs in the fourth gave the Berries a 7-5 lead.
Regina tied the game up 7-7 with runs in the sixth and seventh, things staying tied through nine innings as free baseball took over Cairns Field for a second straight night.
After a scoreless 10th for both sides, the Red Sox plated a run in the top of 11 that was enough for the victory as a Berries fly out ended a long 24+ hours for the Jam Fam.
Looking for a repeat of last week, the Berries will look to keep their season alive tonight in Game 2 on the road in Regina. If they can get the job done, the series will return to Saskatoon for Game 3 on Tuesday night, the winner taking on either the Sylvan Lake Gulls or Okotoks Dawgs in the league final, Sylvan Lake up 1-0 after a 7-3 win on Sunday in Game 1.