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The Regina Red Sox are heading to the WCBL finals after beating the Saskatoon Berries 6-2 on Tuesday night.
As 2,300 fans crowded into Cairns Field in Saskatoon, some light rain fell and the noise levels grew for game three of the Western Canadian Baseball League’s east final.
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The rain didn’t cool off the bats of the Regina Red Sox, and catcher Brady Bye drove in the first run of the game with a single up the middle. But Saskatoon tied the game in the bottom of the first, as Carter Beck scored on a ball that skipped its way to the backstop.
Bye scored another run in the top of the third inning, and designated hitter Jalen Meyers drove in Regina’s third run of the game with a single.
A sacrifice fly from Berries second baseman Abiam Medina brought Saskatoon within one, but that’s where the Berries offence stopped.
Berries starting pitcher Merek Yeager tossed four innings, allowing three runs and giving way to Zac Laird, who threw a scoreless frame.
Saskatoon pitcher Noah McCombs found himself in some trouble in the sixth inning, as Red Sox shortstop Matthew Fox drove in two runs with a double, then Bye doubled off the wall, driving in Fox and making it 6-2 for Regina.
That score held for the rest of the game.
After Red Sox starter Chris Spry found himself facing loaded bases in the sixth, Regina head coach Rye Pothakos made a move to the bullpen, bringing in Ayden Page.
Page got Berries outfielder Cory Wouters to ground out and struck out catcher Bailyn Sorensen, stranding the runners. Page finished the game out with a strong performance on the mound.
“He does this every time he pitches,” said Bye. “He’s honestly something special. He’s a great baseball player and he likes to compete.”
The Red Sox will now play in their first Western Canadian Baseball League final since 2019, taking on the Sylvan Lake Gulls for the championship.
For Bye, it’s a dream come true.
“Nobody quit the whole way. Everybody wanted to win,” said Bye. “Nobody’s ready to go home. This means the world to me. I came up watching these games as a little kid, so now being a part of it and going to a final it really means the world.”
Regina has had to overcome a lot of hurdles this season, from losing most of their starting pitchers for various reasons, to the untimely death of one of their players.
Bye said the team has a lot of grit.
“We’ve got guys who won’t quit no matter what,” Bye said.
Pothakos said he was feeling emotional when he thought of all the hard work his players put in during the season.
“They’re away from their families and they come to play summer ball, and they have other places and choices that they can make, and they chose to come to Regina,” the Regina head coach said.
The Red Sox only needed to use two of their arms to secure the victory, much to the delight of Pothakos.
“That was our game plan,” he said. “Spry gives us good innings, and Page has been outstanding and lights out these last couple weeks.”
As for the Berries, after a historic season that saw them pile up a record 49 wins, it wasn’t in the stars for them to continue.
“Just a break here or there,” said Joe Carnahan, the Berries’ head coach. “It’s one of those things. We had opportunities, and that’s what you want… Sometimes you take care of them, sometimes you don’t.”
But after back-to-back appearances in the east finals, and both series going to the win-or-go-home game three, it feels like the Berries are a dam waiting to burst.
Carnahan said this is just another stepping stone on the team’s journey to WCBL glory.
“Next year is a new year, and it’ll be some of the same guys and some new guys,” he said. “You just go through the season and build off of this, and we’ll see where we’re at in the playoffs this year.”
“That’s what makes baseball fun, is when you have these moments. It sucks,” he added. “But when you’re able to get over that hump, that’s what makes it really fun.”
The WCBL finals start on Thursday in Sylvan Lake, with game two in Regina on Friday.
