The J. L. Crowe Hawks battled to the end but came up short in the final of the Mount Baker Secondary School Wild Baseball Tournament in Cranbrook on the weekend.
The Hawks rolled to the final of the six-team tournament routing Kimberley’s Selkirk Secondary Storm 25-3 in their first match, then grounding a strong Calgary Redbirds team 8-1 to punch their ticket to the final.
Hawks coach Darren Miracle received a strong game from pitcher Brayden Dewitt versus the Storm, and was impressed with son Colton’s performance on the mound against the Redbirds in Game 2.
“The Redbirds (game) was an exciting affair with Colton getting the win, giving up just four hits in an 8-1 win,” said Miracle. “Tony Pasqualotto had a big game at the plate with two doubles.”
The host Wild played the third-seeded Redbirds for the right to face the Hawks in the final, and it was Calgary that came out on top with a 7-0 victory.
In the final, the Redbirds jumped on the Hawks early and led 8-1 through four innings thanks to some excellent work on the mound by the Calgary pitcher.
“The bats finally came alive in the fifth when we got three runs but that’s all we could muster and the Redbirds shut us down the rest of the way making it 10-4,” said Miracle.
According to Wild head coach Shawn Jensen, despite a disappointing final game for his Mount Baker squad, the annual event was a tremendous success overall.
“Every team I talked to seemed to have a good time and really enjoyed coming to this area to play,” Jensen told the Cranbrook Townsman. “We had great weather to go along with good baseball.”
The tournament wraps up the Hawks season, with four of their top players, Colton Miracle, Bradley Ross, Pete Pasquolotto, and Johnny Ballarin, graduating this year.
“They have been with the team since the program started three years ago and are great kids and we wish them the best in the future,” said Miracle. “We had a total of 19 players on the roster this year from a foreign exchange student to a player playing college baseball next year. The season had a few snow-outs and rain-outs but was a fun season.”