The Okotoks Bantam Dawgs Black lived by the bat all season, at nationals their playoff lives died with their chief instrument of destruction.
The Dawgs finished the Baseball Canada Bantam Nationals out of the playoff round with a record of 3-3 at the tournament, Aug. 23-27 in Vaughan, ON.
“Offence, offence (was missing) for sure,” said Dawgs head coach David Robb. “That was probably the most disappointing thing because offensively we’ve been very good this year and except for a couple guys, boy we really, really struggled.”
The Dawgs finished third in team pitching, but were third from the bottom in team offence scoring just 32 runs over the five days of competition.
“If we’re not scoring runs (hitters) start to really put pressure on themselves as being the guy who has to get it done,” Robb said. “Sometimes they were thinking too much, trying too hard and just not making the adjustments and not going about their at-bats the way they did all year.
“It can happen in the World Series in the big leagues and it’s certainly going to happen to a 15-year-old.”
Robb said he was disappointed the Dawgs finished out of the medal hunt.
“When you come to a tournament like this where most of these kids were experiencing it for the first time it’s understandable,” Robb said. “I’m not unhappy, not by any means, just disappointed and I think everybody else probably feels the same way.”
The Dawgs won their tournament opener 8-1 over Saskatchewan on Aug. 23 before their difficulties began in Vaughan. The second game of the day saw Okotoks drop a 4-3 game to P.E.I.
“I don’t think we should have lost to P.E.I., the coaching staff doesn’t think so, I think the kids figured we should have beat them too,” Robb said. “It was a struggle to the end and in the bottom of the seventh P.E.I. ended up getting a game-winning hit.”
A 1-1 record put the Dawgs in a difficult position with pool play tilts with B.C. and the host Vaughan team on the slate. They lost 11-3 to Vaughan and were shutout 9-0 by B.C., the eventual silver medalists.
The Dawgs gave themselves a fighting chance at a playoff spot by edging Newfoundland and Labrador 6-5 on Aug. 25.
Sitting at 2-3, the Dawgs needed some help in the form of a win by Saskatchewan over P.E.I to advance to a tiebreaker, but it did not go their way. P.E.I. moved on to the playoffs after winning the decisive qualifying game 14-6.
The Dawgs closed out the tournament with a 12-7 triumph over New Brunswick on Aug. 26 after a 14-strikeout performance from pitcher Kurt Meeberg.
“We came alive in the last two games and that’s what I told the kids, it’s going to be a lot better feeling (Sunday) if you win your last game,” Robb said.
Dawgs infielder and pitcher Austin Ely was named the team’s MVP and a tournament all-star in his second appearance at nationals in as many years.
“Last year I got to see some great teams, this year the competition was stronger,” Ely said. “I thought as a team we played well all year. It might have been nerves, I thought we could have played better (at nationals), but there’s nothing we can do now.”
The 15-year-old posted a .467 batting average and on the bump finished with a 3.15 ERA and seven strikeouts in one appearance.
Ontario won the tournament, beating B.C. 11-3 in the gold medal game on Aug. 27.
Robb’s message to his players after the tournament was to keep the big picture in mind.
“We have to consider the whole year, we lost 10 or 12 games the whole year and we’re talking from March to August,” he said. “We have everything to be proud of.
“Really the be-all and end-all is that if they stay in the program they’re pretty well guaranteed that they’re going to go to college and play baseball and probably have a scholarship too.”
