Lethbridge edges Medicine Hat at junior nationals

LETHBRIDGE Their record says 5-0, but game faces remain firmly intact for the Lethbridge Junior Bulls.

The Junior Bulls put up some timely hits on their way to a 9-2 win over the Alberta representative Medicine Hat Little League at the Junior Little League Canadian Championship Monday afternoon at Spitz Stadium.

The win keeps the Junior Bulls record perfect and locks up first in the roundrobin portion of the week, but the consensus among the hosts post-game was their record is perfect, but their game hasn’t been on an afternoon when Lethbridge committed five errors.

“We played alright overall,” said Junior Bulls’ first baseman and pitcher Ty Wever, who batted 2-for-4 with three runs scored and 2 RBI in Monday’s win. “I don’t think we were at our 100 per cent best.”

The Junior Bulls held a 2-1 lead after the first inning before adding one more in the second and two in the third for a 5-1 cushion.

They put up another pair in the sixth and seventh innings before Alberta added one more in their half of the seventh as the teams matched each other in hits with eight each.

“You look at the scoreboard and it was equal hits and a few errors on both teams,” said Alberta head coach Dean Harrison, whose team wraps up the roundrobin at 3-2, tied with B.C. and Ontario heading into Wednesday’s play. “I think we threw up a few too many walks to give them some free chances on the bases. Those eight hits, it depends when you get them and what happens. Clutch hits, that’s been our nemesis all week. We just haven’t gotten it when we need it when we get some runners on to put some pressure on the other team.

“I was happy with our game today, you look at a 9-2 score and you should be upset, but overall I thought our game was not too bad today.”

Cole Rath was 3-for-5 hitting leadoff for Medicine Hat.

“There were some ground balls that advanced runners, we just couldn’t get the runs in,” said Rath, who felt his team has a good chance with the Junior Bulls should the teams cross paths in the playoffs.

With the round-robin portion decided, the teams get some time away from Spitz Stadium with a day off today.