
The Lloydminster Mosquito “AA” Twins capped a very successful weekend in North Battleford on Sunday afternoon by capturing Lloydminster’s third consecutive Mosquito “AA” Provincial crown by downing the Swift Current Indians 4-3 in the final.
The road to the final was a very exciting and an emotional roller-coaster especially for the fans and coaches.
The Twins started the weekend with a come from behind win over Weyburn 13-11. After falling behind 7-0 after an inning and a half the Twins bats came alive and scored six runs in the bottom of the second and third to take a 12-7 lead, Weyburn could only manage to get four more over the next four innings and the Twins added one more in the bottom of the fifth to make the final 13-11. Christian Crossman, Trevor Carr, Jaron Acker and Chase Anderson combined for the win.
Game two Sat. morning the bats continued to smoke as they scored five runs in the first inning including a home run by Tate Morrell, added three in the third, two in the fourth and a final run in the fifth to cruise past North Battleford 11-4. Lloydminster’s pitching depth came into play as five pitchers held North Battleford’s bats at bay including three gutsy innings from Dalton Spence followed by Drayce Robertson, Eric Noble and Dylan Eitertter sealed the win.
This set up a game between the two undefeated teams in the tournament Sat, night and in what may be the game that everyone remembers and talks about from this Championship between the Twins and the Swift Current Indians. The Twins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after their first at bat, Swift Current answered with one of their own in the bottom of the inning. Lloyd, added a third run in the top of the second only to see the lead vanish as Swift Current scored three to take a one run lead.
The Twins tied it in the top of the third but again Swift Current came back with three in their next two at bats to go up by a score of 7-4 after four complete. In the top of the fifth the bats again came alive for Lloyd. and they put four on the board to jump back in front 8-7 only to see Swift Current answer with five of their own in the bottom of the fifth to take a 12-8 lead into the final inning.
The Twins came right back at them and scored six runs to lead 14-12 and then the depth of the Lloyminster pitching came to light again as Chase Anderson struck out three of the five batters he faced in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings and Dylan Eistetter came up with the catch of the tournament on a line drive at second base leaping to take away a hit and a run before the last Swift Current batter struck out to end the game.
With the win the Twins clinched a spot in the Championship game on Sunday afternoon with one round robin game left that meant nothing Sunday afternoon, they lost to Yorkton but rebounded to get ready for a re-match against Swift Current in the final.
In the final they again jumped out early to a 3-1 lead after the first inning.
There was no scoring again until the fourth inning when Swift Current tied it at three in the top half of the inning, in the bottom of the 4th the Twins answered with what would eventually be the winning run, after a walk to Owen Schille and a single by Christian Crossman, who went three-for-three, put runners at first and second, Chase Anderson drove Schille home with a little flair to center field. Jaron Acker went 4 1/3 impressive innings and Jayden Fraser closed it out striking out three of the six batters he faced.
Pitching depth played a very important role for the Twins as all 11 players pitched at some time during the tournament. Unfortunately there is no Western Canadian Championship for Mosquito so they end the year as Provincial Champions and wish the Peewee “AA” team success in August in their bid to bring home a Western title from Surrey, B.C.