Southwest topped by Quebec

Quebec representative Mirabel Diamond Academy drew first blood at the Canadian Little League Championship with a tense 4-2 win over Alberta’s Lethbridge Southwest on Thursday morning at Lovell McDonnell Field.

Diamond stranded a whopping 13 base runners over six innings, but four runs was all they would need to jump into the win column thanks a solid defensive effort.

“We left a lot of runners on the bases and we have to work on this, being more clutch with runners on base. But we won the game. That’s the bottom line,” said Quebec coach Tristan Beaudin, whose team will return to the field Friday at 11 a.m. to take on Ontario’s Port Arthur Nationals. “Our guys did a good job. Pitching is our strength and we used three pitchers today. We’re happy about that, all our pitchers will be available to throw in two days. It was a well-fought game from both sides.”

Raphael Bourdeau collected the win after holding Southwest scoreless while allowing two hits over 2 and 1/3 innings. Leonard Lamoureux allowed both of Lethbridge’s runs on despite not allowing a hit in relief, then Christophe LePage Mancini earned the save after allowing

one hit over the final two innings.

Lethbridge’s Nolan Wytrykusz took the loss after allowing three runs on four hits through 2 and 2/3 innings. While Zayne Wittke allowed another run while closing out the third, the bullpen is what kept Lethbridge in the game down the stretch.

Brennan McTavish was one of five relievers to appear for Southwest, and he managed to

escape a bases loaded jam in the fifth while holding Quebec off the board. It was one of three times Diamond Academy stranded three runners on base.

“I get nervous sometimes but I just battle through it,” said McTavish, adding his squad needs to answer back with some offence when they take on the Glace Bay Colonels today at 2 p.m. “We need to get on the bats.”

Quebec left fielder Joel Ouelette started the offence off with a bang, sending the first runs of the tournament across the plate with a two-run shot in the top of the second. Second baseman William Alexis Brault kept the offence rolling in the third with an RBI error, then cacher Louis-Felix Anderson repeated the feat in the fourth to put the game out of reach.