Prior to leaving for Trail, host site of the B.C. Little League Provincial Championships, White Rock 11/12 All-Stars coach John Hogg said that Vancouver’s Hastings Little League were going to be tough to beat.
Turns out he was right.
And while the White Rock/South Surrey crew did in fact get the better of Hastings once – beating them 7-6 on July 24 in round-robin action – the Vancouver team won the most important game of the tournament, beating White Rock 20-0 in Sunday’s championship game.
“The boys had a great run,” said White Rock coach John Hogg. “But Hastings is just such a strong team – they hit the ball so well… we tip our hats to them.”
With the provincial title, Hastings advances to Little League national championships in Edmonton. The winner of that tournament will go on to Williamsport, Penn. where they’ll represent Canada at the Little League World Series.
White Rock was aiming to advance to nationals for the third time since 2007; WRSSBA teams played in the World Series in both ‘07 and ‘08.
In Trail, White Rock went 5-2 over the week-long tournament, losing to only Forest Hills (North Vancouver) 10-8 last Wednesday and then to Hastings in the gold-medal matchup.
They opened round-robin play July 21 with a 6-3 win over the hosts from Trail, then beat Dunbar, 13-0; Beacon Hill, 6-3; and Hastings by one run.
In that game, which at the time improved White Rock’s record to 4-0, the Peninsula squad jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead on a Perrin Finley grand slam, and after Hastings trimmed the lead to 4-2, White Rock added two more runs to take a four-run lead heading into the sixth and final frame.
In the top of the sixth, Hastings scored four runs to tie the game, but White Rock responded in the bottom of the inning when Stephen Lin – who started the inning with a single and moved to third on a passed ball and another single from Shane Killoran – scored on a wild pitch with Jackson Hogg at the plate.
But just as White Rock got the upper hand early in that game thanks to Finley’s home-run, Hastings jumped out a big lead in Sunday’s final that was too big for White Rock to overcome.
Hastings plated nine runs in the first inning Sunday, added another in the second, and had eight more in the third. The game was over after four innings on account of the mercy rule.
White Rock, which beat Beacon Hill in the semifinal to advance to Sunday’s big game, managed just two hits in the game, as Hastings pitcher Cole Dalla-Zanna struck out eight batters and did not give up a walk.
- with files from Trail Daily Times