La Broquerie slo-pitch star Andre Carriere went out to Leduc, Alberta and came home with a gold medal.
Striking gold
"We went to Men's National Slo-Pitch Championship in Leduc, Alberta," Carriere explains. "We came home with the gold medal. It was an amazing experience. I was brought in to a team to help in different areas, and just met new people, made new friends, and it's a weekend that I'll never forget, that's for sure."
Details and results
It was a busy few days of ball, and Carriere details how he and the team made their march to the finals. "We played two games on the Friday, and two games on the Saturday, all round robin. We won our first game, but we lost game two. That took us into Saturday where we won the morning game, but lost the afternoon game. After round robin, we were 2-2. But, that was good enough to give us second place in our pool, after a plus/minus tie breaker. The top three teams in each pool got a double life in playoffs. Meaning you have to lose twice in playoffs to be knocked out. So, we went into Sunday playing the third place team in the other pool, and we won that game. We played Sunday afternoon against the first place team in the other pool, and we won in the bottom of the seventh, 13-10. That was the big game that gave us momentum going into Monday, where again, we had double life, again. Monday, we won the semi's, then we won the finals."
Confidence key
After battling through the round robin, Carriere says that the games leading up to Monday were important, and they lead to the group feeling very confident. "We were feeling great," he says with a smile. "That being said, the team we beat in the semi's, we had lost to them in the round robin, so we had an edge there, a little bit of a revenge game. We took that game quite easily, I think it was 25-9. That knocked that team down to the bottom bracket, but they won two games in a row, and made their way back up. So, we had to play the same team in the finals, actually. We had a nice break, they had to play three games in a row, so we knew that if we could swing the bats and get on them early, we would be okay. That's exactly what happened. We scored a few runs in the first few innings, and we just put them out of the game. We could coast the rest of the game. We won 15-11."
Anticipating the final out
"It was an amazing feeling," Carriere says of the final out being made. "The last inning, we had two outs, and they ended up scoring three runs, so they were building momentum. You kind of have a little doubt in the back of your mind, you just want to get that final out. We finally got that last out with a pop fly to left field, and everything just happens. The gloves go flying, we embrace, and the cheers are on."
The celebration was one he'll always remember. "It's fantastic, we have the presentation on the field, we line up on the lines and they give us the gold. We get the hugs, the pictures, the individual pictures, and we have a drink at the park with the whole team. We made our way back to the hotel, and we got to end with team dinner. The perfect way to end the weekend."
Gold on display
Returning back home with a gold medal, Carriere says he was most proud to represent southeastern Manitoba. "I got the medal on my dresser at home, I'll find a place to hang it up, for sure. I'm so proud of it, so proud to represent all of Manitoba. We were the only team from Manitoba there, and we brought home the gold for everyone."