Bulls charge into WCBL championship

By Dale Woodard on August 20, 2021.

Last weekend, it seemed the Lethbridge Bulls’ season would end with a whimper.

In the span of two games and three days that all changed with a vengeance and now the Bulls are in the Western Canadian Baseball League championship.

It starts tonight at Spitz Stadium at 7:05 p.m. as the Bulls host the Edmonton Prospects in Game 1 of the best-of-three final.

It’s been quite the turnaround for a Lethbridge squad that ended the regular season on a six-game losing streak.

That included four lopsided losses to the same Sylvan Lake Gulls team the Bulls finished off a 2-0 sweep Wednesday night at Spitz Stadium thanks to some walk-off heroics from Ty Penner that snapped a 2-2 tie and earned the hosts a 3-2 win.

Following a 4-2 win in Game 1 in Sylvan Lake Monday night and Wednesday’s walk-off, the Bulls have returned to the win column just in time.

“I think we needed to stick to our game plan and continue to believe in ourselves,” said Penner Thursday afternoon at Spitz Stadium. “We know we’re a really good team and everybody in that locker room thinks we’re the best team in this league. We just want to go out there and play our game every night and that’s all we can do at the end of the day. We were on a bit of skid, but we rolled into the playoffs and the regular season didn’t seem to matter. We just played our game and it worked out for us.”

Bulls head coach Chance Wheatley said being mired in a six-game losing streak isn’t the position any team wants to be in heading into playoffs.

The Bulls bench boss also credited his team for turning it around.

“The guys were able to turn it on and flip that switch,” said Wheatley. “They’ve regrouped and we’ve been competing really well the past couple of games.”

That has earned them the right to compete for a WCBL title with Game 2 heading to Edmonton Saturday at 7:05 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 is back at Spitz Stadium Sunday at 7:05 p.m.

“It’s starting to sink in maybe a little bit more than it was (Wednesday) night, but definitely still a bit jittery today,” said Penner. “The buzz from (Wednesday) night is still hanging over today. But when the clock strikes (tonight) against Edmonton that’s when it’ll really sink in that we’re playing the championship. I’m excited for it.”

Wheatley said his phone has been getting lit up following Wednesday’s victory.

“I’ve got a lot of texts and calls from a lot of people telling me how excited they are. You can just feel the buzz around town right now, it’s awesome.”

On Wednesday night, the Bulls got eight solid innings from starter Brad Goodwin.

Bulls reliever Arden Berg got the win thanks to Penner’s walk-off, but Goodwin’s eight innings of work put Lethbridge in the position to walk it off on the ninth.

A multi-position player, Goodwin keeps it simple when he’s handed the ball.

“I just get on the mound, throw the ball and try to do my job,” he said. “I just listen to Noah Or behind the plate. He’s got a good game plan and I just execute what he tells me to.”

Wheatley said Goodwin’s multi-positional game makes it easy to put him anywhere on the field.

“We’ve been able to plug him in wherever we need him to play and he’ll play it well,” he said. “On the mound, outfield, infield, everywhere. It’s been huge for us, especially with his bat as well, to keep him in the lineup and get guys days off at different positions.”

Goodwin has been that multi-purpose player long before he arrived with the Bulls.

“I always played every position,” he said. “I was in the lineup every day and it just made it easy for coaches (to give) guys a day off. So I could fill in whenever I was needed.”

The Bulls went 7-3 in the regular season against the Prospects.

“I think we match up really well,” said Penner. “We’ve played them tough all year. They’re a scrappy bunch, so we know what they’re going to come with. We trust our abilities and I think we’ve got the guys in our locker room that can give us a good chance in this series.”

Thanks to Bryce Oriold-Fraser’s compete game in Monday’s Game 1 win over the Gulls and Goodwin’s deep start, the bullpen is rested in time for the final.

“We were able to save some arms,” said Wheatley. “We have some arms ready to go for Edmonton and that’s huge for us.”

Jake Anderson gets the start for the Bulls tonight.

The Calgary resident went 4-2 for Lethbridge in the regular season

“Jake has been a work horse for us all year,” said Penner. “You know what to expect with him. He’s got three pitches he’s going to pound the zone with and he’s a guy that’s fun to play defence behind. He works quick. He’s a good guy to have on the mound and we have a lot of confidence in him.”

As one of the local players on the Bulls in this year’s all-Canadian roster, Penner now hopes to bring a WCBL championship home.

“That would be huge,” he said. “This is my second year playing here now. We were actually pretty close my first year, but that would be amazing. I grew up watching these guys and dreaming of playing on the Bulls. To win a championship would be that much sweeter. It would mean a lot, for sure.”

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