Aiming to claim a B.C. championship in their third season of 18U triple A baseball play, the Kelowna Sun Devils took a giant step toward their goal on the weekend at Edith Gay Park.
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The host Sun Devils opened the 2017 campaign by sweeping the Cloverdale Spurs 12-5 and 5-1 on Saturday while earning a split (6-2 and 3-5) with the North Shore Padres on Sunday.
A nine-run fifth inning proved the difference in the season opener for the Sun Devils, who were led offensively by Dreyton Nelmes and his deuces wild — two hits, two walks, two stolen bases and two runs.
Jaimes Guidon went 2-for-3 and stole a couple of bases for the winners while Noah Ringness-Law stroked a pair of his and drove in two runs to go along with two runs-batted-in by Noah Foufoulas.
Gavin Barrett earned his second straight season-opening victory on the mound, striking out four and not allowing an earned run in his five innings of work. Kensington Renneberg came in relief for two innings and posted a pair of strikeouts.
Game 2 on Saturday saw Tyson Lamb take to the hill and pitch seven innings for his first win of the season, backed by his teammates’ seven hits, highlighted by Kurtis Wall’s RBI double.
Jordan Laidlaw and Nelmes teamed up on the mound to defeat North shore 6-2 in the first game on Sunday. Laidlaw went 4 1/3 innings, racking up a pair of strikeouts while allowing only one Padres hits. Nelmes came in for 2 2/3 innings to pick up the victory.
Offensively, Noah Ringness-Law smacked a pair of hits, stole four bases and drove in a run. Jackson Sowerby also had two hits while Wall contributed an RBI single and two stolen bases. Nathan Ringness-Law added a run-scoring double.
In the final game of the weekend, the Sun Devils jumped out to anearly 1-0 lead and with Nathan Ringness-Law twirling a two-hitter, it looked like the hometown team was well on its way to a fourth straight victory.
But three costly errors and a couple of bases-on-balls led to the Padres taking over the lead. The Sun Devils stranded 10 runners in the final three innings to come up short in an attempted comeback.
Noah Ringness-Law once again pilfered four bases while connecting for two hits and scoring a run. Matt Fuchs had the lone RBI in a losing cause.
The Sun Devils will resume their early-season homestand on Saturday when they play host to the Victoria Eagles (2-0) for a doubleheader (1 p.m. and 4 p.m.). They’re home to the South Fraser Giants on Sunday (11 a.m. and 2 p.m.). All games will be played at Edith Gay Park.
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With a pair of huge personal-best performances in Eugene, Ore., Lake Country’s Taryn O’Neill appears to be in stride for a breakthrough season on the track.
The Grade 11 George Elliot Secondary School runner bettered her previous PB by 16 seconds to win the Oregon Relays’ high school 3,000-metre event in a time of 9:44.0. Elliott led the race wire to wire and finished just over eight seconds ahead of New Westminster’s Grace Featherstonhaugh.
A 14-second PB in the 1,500-metre event earned Elliott a second-place finish with a clocking of 4:28.52. Dipping under the coveted 4:30 high school barrier, the 17-year-old was the top Canadian in the race.
Both performances on the weekend put Elliott atop the high school list of runners in B.C., while she is the leading Canadian for the youth group (under 18).
Her goal this season is to be selected to the Canadian Youth team which will compete at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Barbados in July. The top two Canadian athletes reaching the standards in each event are eligible for selection.
O’Neill is coming off a cross-country running season in which she finished third at the Canadian cross country championships in the youth category. She also won the B.C. junior high school title.
“Taryn is a very competitive athlete who brings her beset performances when it mattes most,” said her coach Malindi Elmore. “The high school track season is now under way, so hopefully some more good high school results will follow.”
A three-hit 4-0 shutout on Sunday by Carter Morris proved one of the few highlights for the Okanagan Athletics on the opening weekend of their 2017 B.C. Premier (Midget) Baseball League season.
The Vernon native struck out eight Abbotsford Cardinals batters en route to the lone A’s victory in four starts at Elks Stadium. The Kelowna-based Athletics fell 11-0 in the second game on Sunday while the Cards posted 11-7 and 13-6 victories on Saturday.
The Athletics managed just three hits — singles by James Fischer, Colton Schaper-Kotter and Keaton Mandryk — and took advantage of nine walks issued by Abby pitchers to back Morris’s outstanding mound performance.
Two runs in the bottom of the first inning were all the A’s needed. They were scored with the help of two walks and a Cardinals error. The winners added a run in both the fourth and fifth innings.
In the final game of weekend, the Cardinals (5-3 on the season) scored the winning run in the first inning and added 10 more runs in the third. The visitors collected eight hits off four A’s pitchers, who also issued six walks, while Tasei Yahiro limited the Okanagan contingent to just one hit — a single by first baseman Schaper-Kotter.
The A’s led 6-2 after four innings in their opener on Saturday, but gave up eight runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth in the 13-6 defeat.
Schaper-Kotter drove in two runs with a pair of hits to lead the Athletics’ six-hit offence that included a pair of singles by Kade Kozak of West Kelowna and two runs-batted-in by Cole Van Every.
The second game on Saturday saw the A’s scrape together just four hits, but draw 14 walks in the 11-7 defeat.
Up next for the 1-3 Athletics is a visit to Mackie Park in Delta on Saturday when they take on the North Delta Blue Jays (0-1) in a doubleheader. The two teams will meet again for a twinbill on Sunday.
The A’s are back at Elks Stadium April 22 and 23, playing host to the Victoria Eagles.
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