SouthWestDivisionalchamps

Lethbridge team off to Major AAA nationals in Mirabel, Que.

Lethbridge South West stayed the course and now that road will lead to Quebec. South West defeated Calgary West 13-3 in the gold medal game of the South West Major AAA Little League Divisional Tournament Thursday at Canola Harvest Field.

For the Alberta champions, the next stop is Mirabel, Que., for nationals Aug. 2-11, thanks to a simple credo that led to a week of undefeated baseball.

“We had some challenges the last three days,” said South West head coach Les McTavish, whose team went 7-0. “We had to earn every penny of it and I’m really proud of the kids. We faced some really good arms in the last few days and everybody was ready to play South West. Our two words of the week have been trying to stay ‘humble’ and trying to stay ‘focused.’ I thought we were focused all the way through. We always played the last game of the day and it’s hard sometimes when you always play the last game. You have all day as a 12-year-old to do different stuff and they certainly stayed focused and humble and I’m really proud of how they played.”

On Thursday, South West opened a 6-0 lead, but Calgary West replied with three to cut the lead in half.

But South West kicked the 10-run rule into effect in the fourth inning, plating their 13th run as the celebration began.

“We did well, we just made the easy plays and had the good hits,” said 12-year-old shortstop Brennan McTavish, whose team defeated Fish Creek 5-2 in the semifinal Wednesday. “Today was better because we got on the sticks in the first inning. The other day we had a good game, we just didn’t hit the gaps.”

The good hits were spread around, a strong suit that is sending South West east.

“We are 11 strong,” said Les McTavish. “We have 11 players that on any given day can be one of our best players. You look at the scoresheet today and there were multiple different players that got base hits. It’s one of those things where we’re really tough to play against because we’re not one or two strong. We have 11 good baseball players and I think that puts a lot of pressure on opposing teams. Today was one of those things where we continued to put pressure on them defensively and I thought we were aggressive on the bases and then they started throwing the ball around a little bit. We alternately took care of the baseball, which is important.”

After the team chased their coach into centre field to give him the Gatorade treatment, Carter Capton soaked in the moment.

“It’s awesome, it’s so much fun playing against all these guys from Alberta,” said the 13-year-old. “We’ve played them a few times in tournaments.”

Now Capton is off to his second national tournament, along with McTavish, River Hope and Lyle Steadman.

South West will boast four nationals veterans, but catcher J.T. Toker is off to his first national event.

“This is amazing, it feels unreal,” said Toker, who has a bit of international competition under his belt. “We went to Seattle last year for the AA B.C. World Series.”

Even the coaching staff has experience at nationals.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of it a few times. It’s going to be a challenge. You never really know what you’re going to get when you travel and when you go to a Canadian championship,” said McTavish. “But I’ll tell you what, I think we are as strong as we’ve been in a long time and we’re going live with the same model, we’re going to try and stay humble and focused, we’re going to go there with a plan and we’re going to go play hard and let the chips fall as they may. I’m really confident in this group.”

South West flies out to Montreal on Tuesday.

“It’s the first time going east and a lot of them have probably never been to Quebec,” said McTavish. “There will be some great life experiences and at the end of the day when you go to a Canadian championship at this age I think it’s important to realize and acknowledge the fact that it’s a life experience. These kids get to travel across the country and represent our province at a national tournament. As a coaching staff with Joel Weaver and coach Clint Capton, they did a good job all year for us. We all had roles and we stuck within our rules and will do the same thing when we get out to Quebec. We’ll just put our best foot forward.”