Winds, bats pick up at nationals

By Lethbridge Herald on August 6, 2022.

Herald photo by Dale Woodard Team B.C.'s Domenic La Quaglia is called out at the plate after Lethbridge Junior Bulls pitcher Kylar Lonan makes the tag at the 2022 Junior Little League Canadian Championship Thursday night at Spitz Stadium. The Junior Bulls won 9-6 to finish the round robin at 4-1 heading into the weekend.

Dale Woodard for the LETHBRIDGE HERALD

The wind picked up Thursday night at Spitz Stadium.

At roughly the same time, so did the Lethbridge Junior Bulls’ bats.

Thanks to that little bit of gusto on the sticks, the locals wrapped up the 2022 Junior Little League Canadian Championship round-robin at 4-1 and will breeze into the semifinals today following a 9-6 win over Team B.C. from South Vancouver Little League Thursday night.

Down 5-1 after three innings, the Junior Bulls rallied with seven runs in the fourth inning for an 8-5 lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way as the locals head into the playoff weekend on a winning note.

Team B.C. and Ontario also finished the round-robin at 4-1, Quebec wrapped up at 2-3, Alberta was 1-4 and Team Atlantic was 0-5.

Despite the loss, Team B.C. still nabbed the number one seed after the round-robin.

“We definitely came out slow, but we came together after the third inning,” said Junior Bulls assistant coach Lukas Ankermann. “We had a little talk with our guys and said ‘Hey, stay loose. There’s a lot of the ball game left. Stay loose, hit balls hard and take care of what we can take care of and good things will happen’. And then we definitely put up a good inning.”

Junior Bulls catcher and shortstop Carter Mann, who also pitched five and two-thirds innings in Thursday’s victory, said the mindset was to stay up when the team was down early.

“Because there was lots of ball game left. Our team has a tendency to get low when we’re down by a few runs even though there’s a whole lot of ball game left. It’s just key to stay up.”

That mindset paid off in the fourth inning.

“It started with a big hit from Daniel (Kambeitz) definitely, just like most innings do, “ said Mann, who also had five strikeouts in Thursday’s win. “We had 14-spot against Atlantic and it started with a big hit from Daniel, a double down the line. (The fourth inning) started with a big double in the gap from Daniel and all the bats just started following.”

Ankermann noted there were some lucky breaks leading to the breakout fourth.

“We capitalized on some mistakes, but definitely hitting is contagious and we showed that in the fourth.”

Junior Bulls first baseman and pitcher Railey De Mateo, 14, noted his team’s tendency for slow starts over the past week.

But when the hits come, he said they spread through the lineup.

“(It becomes) contagious,” said De Mateo. “Somebody gets a good hit and everybody is fired up and they want to hit the ball and score runs.”

The teams took Friday off to recharge for this playoff weekend portion starting today.

The Junior Bulls will face Team Ontario East Nepean Eagles in the first semifinal at 10 a.m., followed by B.C. facing fourth-seeded Quebec at 1:30 p.m.

“We just said that no matter who the opponent is, we’re going to come out firing and we’re going to come out ready to go from inning one and not wait a few innings this time,” said Ankermann. “We’ll be ready to go no matter who we’re facing.”

No matter what, the hometown boys have made good heading into the playoffs weekend.

“They’re doing awesome, I can’t ask for anything more,” said Ankermann. “They’re battling and we’re not done yet.”

“It’s going to be fun,” added Mann. “We’re hoping to hit some balls hard and get the team rolling up and put up some 10-spots.”

De Mateo, said hosting a national event has been an “amazing” experience.

“Everybody from Canada comes here to play baseball. It’s just really cool. All the teams get to stay at (Lethbridge) College at the dorms and it’s a really good way to make more friends and things like that.”

Now, the Junior Bulls turn their attention to the field starting with the semifinals today. 

“It’s going to be really electric,” said De Mateo. “It’s going to nerve-wracking and it’s going to be really fun. We just have to do well.”

Lethbridge’s Noah Gruninger was 3-for-4 with two RBI Thursday night. 

Kambeitz was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Colin Hill had two hits for B.C. and teammate Pietro Andreola had two RBI.

Ethan Chau and Kyle De Waal each had three strikeouts for B.C.