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By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
After a busy summer, the Vauxhall Spurs were back on the diamond for their biggest games this past weekend. The Spurs started their tournament on July 24 where they took on the Tri-County Cardinals. Vauxhall would play as the home team and take an early 2-0 lead in the first inning before the Cards tied it up in the second. The teams would trade runs back and forth for most of the game, and Vauxhall took a 7-5 lead into the seventh inning. Despite an error and some shaky pitching, the Spurs were able to hold on for a 7-6 win. Daxton Schrader took the ball to start and was solid for the Spurs as he went six and a third innings with a strikeout while allowing six unearned runs on nine hits and a walk. Randon Lauwen finished things off with two-thirds of an inning, and he punched out one Cardinals’ hitter. Offensively, the team was led by Langdyn Cummins, who had a double, a single, and three RBI. Roman Pavka, Lauwen, and Parker McLaughlin all had two hits in the win, while Landon Howg, Eric Reiling, Mark Vulcano, and Tanner Bullock all had one.
With a strong start to the tournament, the Spurs looked to build on the momentum on Friday when they took on the Lethbridge Miners. Vauxhall would fall behind 3-0 in the first inning, but their offence was firing in the bottom half of the inning as they closed the gap to one. They would take the lead the following inning, but the see-saw battle continued as Lethbridge tied it in the top of the third. Thanks to single runs in the fifth and sixth, Vauxhall was able to shut out Lethbridge the rest of the way and win 6-4.
Cummins continued to lead the charge as the centerfielder had three more hits, including a double. Vulcano notched a pair of hits while McLaughlin had a double, and Howg, Lauwen, and Sidney Pedersen all had singles. Bullock was the starter in Game 2 and went 5.2 innings with three punchouts. Over his five and two-thirds innings, Bullock allowed four earned runs on four hits and four walks. Micah Fontaine came out of the bullpen and shut the door with an inning and a third with two strikeouts.
In their third game of the tournament, the Spurs took on the Havre Northstars. In an all-out war, the Spurs and Northstars battled, and it took nine innings to decide the winner. Thanks to a big top of the ninth, the Spurs walked away with a 21-15 win. There were contributions from up and down the line as Pavka had four hits in the game with four RBI, Howg, Reiling, and Bullock all had three hits, Cummins, Vulcano, and McLaughlin had two apiece, and Ryley Jensen had one hit. In total, the Spurs threw six pitchers in the game. Lauwen started and went three innings with three strikeouts while allowing four earned runs on six hits and a walk. Fontaine was next man up and went 3.2 innings with seven runs allowed (six earned ) on three hits and six walks. He also had four strikeouts over the 3.2 innings. Fehr and Pedersen were both on the mound and were unable to collect an out. Fehr allowed three earned runs on a hit and two walks, while Pedersen saw one earned run cross home plate. Cummins came in and shut down the Northstars’ offence with two strong innings. In his two innings of work, he struck out one, walked a batter, and allowed one hit. The final man out for the bullpen was Jensen, who pitched a third of an inning.
With a 3-0 record, the Spurs found themselves in the District final. After Havre beat Lethbridge on Sunday morning, it was a rematch between the Spurs and Northstars in the final. While the two teams combined for 36 runs in their previous game, both sides tightened up defensively in the final. Vauxhall would score in the first four innings while also shutting out Havre. In the end, Vauxhall emerged as District champs with a 7-0 win. It was a total team effort offensively as seven of the starting nine batters in the lineup had a hit. Cummins, Reiling, and Bullock had two each, while Howg, Pavka, Vulcano, and Jensen all had one. Cummins also started on the mound and went 3.2 innings, where he allowed a single hit, walked a pair, and struck out six. Jensen finished things off with 1.1 innings, where he also allowed one hit, walked one and finished with a strikeout.
A win at Districts means the Spurs now move on to the State tournament, which started on July 30 and runs until Aug. 3.
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