The Pembina Hills Padres and the Bonivital Blacksox were the big winners as Baseball Manitoba crowned its PeeWee and Bantam AAA champions at Brandon’s Simplot Millennium Park on Sunday.
Matt Boychuck struck out 12 batters over 5 2/3 innings to lead Pembina Hills to an 8-3 win over South Central in the final.
"They’re great kids and they just never quit," Pembina Hills’ coach Blaine Boyle told CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston. "They practice hard, they phone me to go hit the ball all the time, and they just love to play. We’re pretty excited for them and I’m pretty excited myself too."
The Padres, which include Carberry’s Bryden Biehn, Zaine McConnell and Dez Ramsey along with Clearwater’s Trent Peters and Manitou’s Wyatt Cobb, finished the playdowns with an undefeated record.
"Oh they’ve been good," said Boyle. "The Carberry guys, they really are great kids. We picked them at tryouts and they’ve been just great kids. They all pitch a little, they’ve all played positions, they’ve pinch-hit, and they’ve been big helps for the guys."
Pembina Hills advance to Western Canadians, which will be hosted by South Central from August 14th to 18th in Altona.
The North Winnipeg Pirates earned the chance to be the third Manitoba rep at the Westerns after knocking off the Winnipeg South Chiefs 8-3 to qualify.
In the semifinals, Pembina Hills blanked Winnipeg South 10-0 while South Central downed North Winnipeg 5-2.
In the Bantam AAA playdowns, the Bonivital Blacksox were unbeaten and capped it off by claiming the title 4-1 over the Winnipeg South Chiefs.
Victor Cerny went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored for the Blacksox who move onto the Baseball Canada Bantam Nationals in Vaughan, Ontario from August 21st to 25th.
The runner-up finish by the Chiefs earns them a trip to Spruce Grove, Alberta for the Bantam Westerns from August 15th to 17th.
In the provincial semifinals, Bonivital beat South Central 10-3 and Winnipeg South got past Parkland 9-5.
Meanwhile, the final Baseball Manitoba championship of the season will take place this coming weekend in Hamiota with the Senior AA provincials running Friday through Sunday.
The host Red Sox, Elkhorn Expos, Minnedosa Mavericks, Baldur Regals and the defending champion Brandon Cardinals are among the teams taking part.
