Lethbridge Lakers are Nova Scotia bound

By Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2022.

The Lethbridge Canadian Tire Lakers celebrate at the mound after defeating the Calgary Blue Jays 19-14 in the Divisionals final at Lloyd Nolan Yard on Saturday. The team earned a berth in Nova Scotia at Nationals with the win.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Canadian Tire  Lakers  senior Little League team booked their ticket to Nationals in Nova Scotia after beating the Calgary Blue Jays 19-14 in the Divisionals final on home turf at Lloyd Nolan Yard on Saturday.

The Blue Jays threw everything they had at the Lakers in the later innings, but Lethbridge was able to withstand the late surge.

“I mean we played a pretty messy baseball game,” said Lakers coach Michael Schwab.

“But as far as the weekend is concerned, we played some really good baseball yesterday and we put ourselves in a position to win today. I would say it feels good (and)  get a chance to represent Alberta in Sidney Mines.”

Schwab thought the Lakers mailed it in a bit as they thought the Blue Jays were going to roll over and he credited  them for not and kept battling them while making it a ball game in the end.

“I mean there were definitely a few spots we made a few mistakes down the stretch  that didn’t help, but I mean our pitchers did a good job coming in and still attacking hitters,” said Schwab.

“Like you said, found a way to get some outs and came out with a win.”

Schwab wants to see his team sharpen up on the fundamentals and getting better at playing clean baseball ahead of Nationals.

“We’re a good hitting team and if we can clean up things up  on the defensive side of the ball and help our pitchers out, I think that we’ll have a good shot down there,” he said.

Winning Divisionals was bittersweet for Ty Mabin.

“When I was in majors, we got cut short because of them,” Mabin.

“So it was good to back at them. Yeah, feels good to get revenge.”

Nationals is July 16-23 in Sidney Mines, Nova Scotia.

The winner there will head to the World Series in Easley, South Carolina from July 30-Aug. 6.