Carillon Sultans fall in 22U Westerns final

Despite losing out on the league pennant and championship, the Manitoba Junior Baseball League’s Elmwood Giants aren’t walking away from the season empty-handed.

The Giants were felled by the Carillon Sultans in the MJBL league championship, but gained a measure of revenge at the Western Canada Baseball Championships, hosted at their home ball field of Koskie Field Aug. 9-11.

“I think we had a great weekend,” Sultans manager Rick Penner said after the game.

“We had a lot of fun, a couple new guys with pick-ups, seniors got a chance to play again, we got everyone in. Everybody got at-bats and opportunity to play… Like we expected, we had two super-tight games with Elmwood and we won one and lost one, unfortunately it was the wrong one.”

The 22U Western Championship tournament was in question until Elmwood stepped up to host, with coach Ed Kulyk grateful the club was able to step up.

It was fitting the two Manitoba teams would battle in the final, as they’ve competed with each other all year.

“The guys all get along, there’s no animosity, they are all brothers,” Kulyk said on the relationship between the Sultans and Giants.

“(We had) two good games this weekend. It was fantastic. Kudos to (Penner) and his staff. Those boys are very well respected, they play the game the right way, and we just enjoy playing against them.”

The two Manitoba teams tore through the competition, going a perfect 6-0 against representatives from Saskatchewan and Alberta, with several lopsided victories.

“I think we opened the eyes of the Saskatchewan and Alberta teams,” Kulyk said.

“They were kind of shocked at how good we can play, and hopefully they can take that back and prepare for next year.”

Carillon won the pool play match-up 1-0, but Elmwood would bounce back for the final, with a 3-1 victory. The overall play between the two teams was excellent, as both picked up quality pitchers to bolster their line-ups at Westerns, with Altona’s Ethan Giesbrecht getting the start for Elmwood in the final, with Carillon responding with Winnipeg South’s Matt Thompson.

Giesbrecht pitched a complete game in the final, only allowing four hits, with seven strikeouts. One of those strikeouts came with no shortage of controversy, as Carillon loaded the bases down two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Players from both teams reacted as if Drayden Kurbatoff had drawn an RBI walk with two outs, but instead the umpire called for strike two as Kurbatoff was leaving the batters’ box for first base. Giesbrecht responded with a no-doubt strike with his next pitch to end the inning and the Sultans’ chances of winning.

Westerns provided some valuable experience for Carillon, who will be representing Manitoba at next year’s national championships after winning the MJBL championship this year.

“It’s a little different format than a play-off run,” Penner said.

“You’ve got to plan your pitchers a little differently, and there’s some other things to worry about. We had three pick-ups and we might have more for nationals.”

Action at Westerns is the end of an historic season for the junior Sultans.

“It’s been a lot of fun with this group of guys,” Penner said.

“We didn’t try to take things too formal, too serious. They know their stuff. We came to the park and kept it loose, kept it fun.”

Westerns was the final junior action for Carillon senior players Kurbatoff, Linden Miellieur, Luc Lagasse and Meech Nadeau.