Senior Dust Devils earn Gold at 2014 SASG

Gold: Pincher Creek Dust Devils

Silver: Medicine Hat Expos

Chris Davis - "For some of you this may be the last game you play from this dugout", said Senior Dust Devils Coach Brian Mackenzie during his warmup speech to the team prior to their final game of the 2014 Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG). He encouraged them to make the most of it, and with perfect weather and a challenging opponent they did just that, ultimately winning the Gold after defeating Medicine Hat's Expos by two points, 17-15.

Video: Championship game

It was an incredible game. In fact, it was probably the best baseball game I've seen at Sproule Field in the last four years. Both teams were fiercely determined to win it throughout. There were moments when time seemed to stop, a hush falling over spectators, coaches, and players alike, everything hanging on the next pitch.

Mitchell Zoratti pitching
C. Davis photos and videos except *

Pincher Creek was at bat first, and despite a solid effort, particularly from Beau Walter, Medicine Hat shut them down quick. Then Mitchell Zoratti took to the mound for the Devils and put the fear of pitch into the Expos. Solid effort. Both teams were hitting well, but the Devils were stealing their way to victory with some frequency, keen to spot profitable errors. Solid fielding by the Expos made that a risky business, but at the bottom of the third the Devils were ahead 11-6.

Deloy Mackenzie busts a move

Chase Snider of the Devils delivered, both from the pitcher's mound and at bat. After six innings it was still anyone's game. Top of the seventh the Expos shut the Devils down quickly after a flurry of excitement, the Devils ahead 17-15 on the scoresheet. Bottom of the seventh, behind by two points, the Expos faced Devils pitcher Matthew Duncan, who was totally in the zone for the last innings. Three up, three down, and the Devils earned the crown.

Chase Snider begins a long and successful slide to third

Afterwards I spoke with Devils coach Brian Mackenzie, who was elated with the way it all worked out. "It seems like a different team from yesterday," I said, because the Devils I saw the day before were in fine form but didn't seem to be finding the groove as regularly as they did during this final game. "How about from the first practice, the first game? What a huge difference from the start of the year," Mackenzie replied. "You can even go back further, because I've had most of these kids for 7 years. That's pretty neat, and it's a pretty neat ending story, I think."

Beau Walter pitching on July 2

"These kids have options right now to go on and play high school ball, they're going to be in grade 10 next year, and then go and play for the (Fort Macleod) Royals, and that's my hope for them. That they do go on to the next year."

"That would be great. I would love to see it, and I will be there to watch every game."

"I am not qualified to take these kids any further. They need someone else who can take them to the next level. I did my part in the chain coming up."

I asked Coach Mackenzie if he figured Medicine Hat to be the Devils' big challenge at the SASG. "Absolutely," he replied. "Medicine Hat is always strong. Whenever you are playing a city... I did some things differently there yesterday that I probably wouldn't have done if it had been a three-team tournament. I saved two of my kids for pitching today, Mitchell and Matthew. And you have to do that."

Qualifiers: Dust Devils vs Willow Creek and Medicine Hat

C. Davis and L. Jones photos and video 

"Yesterday in the qualifying round, they were just games to get to that gold medal game. So if you run yourself out of pitchers, then you are hooped. So I saved my two aces."

"The 5th inning and the 7th inning, boy, they were good innings for us."

"Yesterday our first inning was not very good, I think they scored 7 runs on us, against these guys. Then today they scored three and all the boys were 'Oh, God, here we go again.'. I said 'Boys, if that's our worst inning today, we're good. We are in nice shape. Don't hang your heads, go do your job. Kids at this age don't realize that they're not superman, they can't do everything. The other team in the other dugout, they are trying to do exactly what we're trying to do, on offence and defence too. They've got to understand when they make a nice play, they say 'Why are you cheering for them, coach?'. It's a nice play. It's baseball. I love to see that, either side, it's great."

Ethan Watt at bat

"I told them earlier that I hope they've learned something from me, and not just about hitting the ball, or catching the ball, or throwing the ball, but about life, and getting along with people. Because that's ultimately what we are here for with these kids, To teach them to be good citizens, and be a part of society later on. I firmly believe that team sports will do that for kids."

Of his athletes he said "I'm awful proud of every one of them. They all bought into the concept about team ball. I told them before we came to summer games 'A house league is house league, but summer games is the next step up, so it's going to be play on performance, not based on participation,' and they all bought into that."

"We all got them into every game, every kid on the bat, every kid had an inning on the outfield, at least, or going on the infield. I'm awful proud of the boys. It's been a long 7 years, lets put it that way, and it was a nice ending."

Matthew Duncan on the mound

Matthew Duncan is one of the Devils planning to make the move to the Fort Macleod Royals next season. "It'll be something new, but hopefully it will be good," he said. He's ready for it, judging from his performance at the SASG. His final innings as a Dust Devil will be legend, something he seems to take in stride. He certainly doesn't seem to overthink it much. "It doesn't matter how I got them, I just wanted to get the outs," he said. "It ended up working out in the end."

I asked him what the biggest game of his Devils career was, in retrospect. "This one, by far is the biggest one we've had."