Diablos perfect en route to Intermediate provincial title

By Dale Woodard on August 31, 2021.

The Lethbridge Intermediate Diablos picked a heck of a weekend to go 5-0.

And one big inning capped it off in grand style, earning the Diablos the Little League Intermediate/Junior Provincial Championship.

Lethbridge defeated Medicine Hat 19-9 in six innings during the gold medal game Sunday afternoon at Dave Elton Park to cap off a weekend of undefeated baseball with a banner for a team of 13-year-olds competing against 14 and 15-year-olds.

The double digits win that kicked in the 10-run mercy rule aside, it was close throughout Sunday’s final before the Diablos pounded out nine runs in their half of the sixth to build on a 10-9 lead and end the game one inning early.

“Up until that last inning it was close,” said Diablos co-coach Blake Babki. “They had some struggles throwing strikes, so they put a few guys on. We had a couple of big hits. (Railey) De Mateo cleared the bases. We had contributions from everybody all day long. Everybody played well and contributed immensely.”

In addition to coming up with some clutch RBIs, De Mateo played the role of closer for Lethbridge in the gold medal game.

“It’s the first time winning a championship,” he said. “It’s really fun.”

The Diablos also did it as the young team in the Intermediate age group.

“It’s an interesting group. We happen to be 13-years-old,” said Babki, who shares the bench boss duties with Jess Mason. “There are no other teams in Alberta who are 13, so we got to play against 14 and 15-year-olds. So I’m really proud of these guys in that they played against kids who are two years older than them and they came out victorious.”

The Diablos began the weekend with a 2-0 start Friday with 11-5 and 9-4 wins over Medicine Hat and Community Park, respectively.

The hosts began Saturday with an 11-8 win over Calgary West and blanked Langdon 18-0 later in the day to improve to 4-0 and clinch their spot in Sunday afternoon’s final.

“We got to play all of these teams for the past four weeks,” said Babki. “They beat us in the past and we beat them. Everybody had beat everybody, but we kind of strung it together this weekend. We went 5-0 and the kids came to play.”

And they did it at home as the photo sessions commenced with family and friends following the game.

“It was really nice,” said De Mateo. “It was really fun to host a bunch of teams coming in playing.”

A home provincial title was deserved for a Diablos team that spent the whole season on the road before getting to come home and host provincials.

“We had to travel for the past four weeks,” said Babki. “We were in Edmonton, Calgary and Langdon. So it was really nice to play at home, for sure. The committee that put this on put on a heck of a show and all of the volunteers helped out. We’ve been to many places and this one was the best.”

With the season complete, the Diablos players will move up to the 14 and 15-year-old bantam league next summer.

“But we were playing bantam-aged kids. So we’re going to be playing against the same type of kids in the future,” said Babki, adding it’s hard to say how much of the team will be back next year with a few out of town players on this year’s roster.

“But I’d to keep the group together as long as we could.”

In other weekend action, the Lethbridge Minor AAA U10 team came back from being down four runs to Calgary West in the final to win in extra innings and capture the Minor AAA Alberta Prairies Sectional Championship Sunday afternoon at Canola Harvest Field.

The Lethbridge Little League Major AA All-Stars won silver in the Alberta Little League Major AA Championship following a 6-3 loss to Calgary Norcrest at Canola Harvest Field.

See Wednesday’s Herald for the wrap-up.

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