Cougars clinch city title
Patience has paid off for the veterans of the Catholic Central Cougars baseball team. Playing in front of a loud and enthusiastic crowd at Spitz Stadium Thursday night, the Cougars and Chinook Coyotes locked horns in a low-scoring, but entertaining, Lethbridge and District High School Baseball League final before the Cougars eked out a 2-0 win to capture the 2017 title.
For Cougar Torrin Vaselenak and the rest of his Grade 12 teammates, this championship title has been a long time coming.
The graduating Catholic Central veteran did his part in the bottom of the sixth, hammering a two-out triple to right field with the Cougars up 1-0 and plating the team’s second run for a little insurance.
That clutch hit combined with his strong final go-round with the Cougars earned Vaselenak the league MVP and a spot on the league all-star roster, but it was the city title he and his teammates were waiting for.
“I think we’ve been waiting for this year for a while,” said Vaselenak. “When a lot of our veteran guys were younger we were waiting and we knew we were a building team. We were waiting for it this year and we wanted it really bad. So we went out and got it.
“It’s really special because it’s my last high school game I’ll ever play. To win the city championship is pretty awesome.”
The Cougars opened a 1-0 lead in the third in a defensive game with five hits between the two teams, three for the Cougars and two for the Coyotes.
Vaselenak then padded that lead with a blast to deep right in the bottom of the sixth.
“I didn’t see a lot of strikes throughout the game and the one I did see I just hammered it into the gap.”
Still, it was a tense game to watch from the bench.
“It’s nerve-wracking being there as a coach, but our guys played so well (and) the Chinook guys played so well,” said Cougars head coach Andrew Gilbert. “It’s a lot of fun being part of games like that. Even though the offence wasn’t there, that just shows how good the pitchers were today and how good the defence was with both teams. It was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
His team settled for second, but Gilbert’s championship game assessment drew no argument from Coyotes head coach Bruce Carbert
“It was awesome,” he said. “They’re a great team and we’ve played well all year and they’ve been the team to beat this year and they played like it tonight. They had some great defensive players, fantastic starting pitching and timely hitting. It was such a fun game to be a part of because it was a baseball game that had a little bit of everything. We had a great crowd and great fan support. We lost the game, but we lost to a great ball club and we’re very proud of the boys.”
Lukas Ankerman got the win for the Cougars on the hill Thursday night.
The Cougars lose the likes of Vaselenak and a host of Grade 12s, but have some solid support coming up for next year.
“They’re veteran guys and guys we like to have around,” said Gilbert. “For the younger guys, we have a good Grade 11 and 10 crew coming up. So we’re excited for next year as well.”
The Coyotes also bid farewell to a core of graduating players that have put in their time in the Chinook program as Carbert credited his veteran core of Brennan Ciona, Blake Braun, Jack Jensen, Wyatt Tomalty, Kyle Bloor and Raleigh Ferbey.
“We have a great group of guys that have really led,” he said. “They’ve played from Grade 9 on and they’ve been four-year players. With Kyle joining us in Grade 10 from LCI and with Jack, Wyatt and Raleigh, these are guys have that been major impact players in our program for the last four years. So it’s definitely tough to see them go. But they’ve done a terrific job in showing the way for the younger guys and we couldn’t have asked anything more from them. They’re great kids.”
In addition to Vaselenak, Zach Goruk, Brendan Nickles, Ankerman and Zach Trempner were named to the LHSBL all-star team, while the Coyote contingent of Ferby, Tomalty, Bloor and Braun were also named as all-stars.
Joining them were Dylan Mostyn (Coaldale Kate Andrews), Boomer Heggie and Liam Leach (Raymond) and Skylar Braun, Cooper Bell and Levi Abbott (LCI).
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