It was not the end result Canora baseball fans were hoping for, but the Supers pushed the Langenburg Legends as far as possible in the best-of-three semi-final series in the SESBL (Southeast Senior Baseball League) playoffs, said Greg Andreychuk, player/manager.
The Legends took the series two games to one.
On July 23 the Supers were in Langenburg for game one of the series, a 6 to 1 loss.
The Supers loaded the bases in the top of the first with none out but could only manage one run on a double play before the home team got out of trouble. The score remained 1 to 0 in favour of the Supers until the bottom of the fourth inning, where the Legends pushed across three runs.
“The Legends scored three more in the sixth to seal the deal,” said Andreychuk.
Derek Palagian pitched five-and-two-thirds innings, allowing six runs (three earned) to take the loss. He gave up seven hits and chalked up six strikeouts. Colby Parachoniak took over on the mound to record the final out.
The Supers managed only four hits on the evening, highlighted by two singles from Logan Parachoniak. Phil Sobkow and Ian Quewezance had one hit each.
The following evening the teams were back at it in Canora, where the Supers showed a lot of character and tied up the series, said Andreychuk.
This game featured a lot more offence than the series opener, as Langenburg hit everything in sight to take a 5 to 0 lead after the first inning. The Supers would come to within one in the bottom of the third before the Legends restored the lead to three in the next inning. The Supers would cut the lead to 7-6 in the bottom of the fourth before blowing the game open with six runs in the fifth to take a 12-7 victory.
Kholton Shewchuk started on the mound, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in four innings. Adam Korb came in relief and tossed three innings of one-hit scoreless ball with three strikeouts to pick up the win, and scored the tying run after being hit by a pitch.
Travis Mentanko slugged a two-run homer over the center field fence to lead the way with the bats. Ian Quewezance had a double and two singles. Phil Sobkow had a double and single, while Logan Parachoniak had two singles. Sean Kolodziejski had one hit, drew three walks and scored three runs as the leadoff batter. Greg Andreychuk contributed a single.
On July 27 the deciding game was back in Langenburg, and resulted in a 3 to 1, series-clinching victory for the home team.
“The Supers took advantage of a throwing error to score first in the top of the first inning, but Langenburg responded with a run in the bottom half to tie the game,” said Andreychuk.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth when the Tyrel Thorpe of the Legends sent a two-run home run over the left-center field fence to give the Legends a 3 to 1 lead, which turned out to be the final score.
Derek Palagian of the Supers got the nod on the hill as the starting pitcher once again and did not disappoint. He gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and recorded four strikeouts to take the loss.
“On most nights it would have been enough for the win but the offence just could not capitalize on opportunities,” said Andreychuk.
The Supers only managed three hits for the entire game off the power pitching of Kelly Cook, highlighted by doubles off the outfield fence by Logan Parachoniak and Greg Andreychuk. Chris Morrison had the other base hit. The Supers did manage five walks, three by Kolodziejski. However, in two innings Canora had glorious chances to score but left the bases loaded.
“Congratulations to the Legends on making it back to the SESBL final in another great series that could have gone either way,” said Andreychuk.
