Skip to content

Dawgs send Express packing to claim WCBL championship

Baseball: Okotoks outlasts Moose Jaw 4-1 in front of 5,540 fans at Seaman Stadium
SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4771WEB
The Okotoks Dawgs pose with the Harris Hallis Memorial Trophy after winning the WCBL championship over the Moose Jaw Miller Express with a 4-1 victory in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the best-of-three WCBL Final at Seaman Stadium on Aug. 18. (Robert Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY)

Six playoff wins have equalled a half-dozen championship rings for the Dawgs.

The Okotoks Dawgs outlasted the Moose Jaw Miller Express 4-1 Thursday night in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Western Canadian Baseball League Final to claim their sixth league title in front of 5,540 fans at Seaman Stadium.

“It means a lot, I’ve always wanted to do this, always wanted to play for this team,” said centrefielder Micah McDowell, a Dawgs Academy alumnus. “Getting this little monkey off our back, we had an unreal season, but there’s definitely a lot of pressure on the team as a whole to finish it out.

“The guys did a great job of just focusing pitch by pitch, game by game.”

Okotoks took the series opener in convincing fashion, a 12-3 rout on Tuesday night and looked to be the clear favourite in the best-of-three set.

Not so fast.

As the series shifted east, the Saskatchewan team rode a strong pitching performance from Cameron Dunn to a 3-1 triumph in Wednesday’s Game 2.

Forty-eight hours and over 1,400 km of travelling later and the finalists took to Seaman Stadium once again with the Harris Hallis Memorial Trophy on the line.

“It’s been a rough couple of days to say the least,” said McDowell of the unforgiving schedule. “We were stung a bit after Game 2, but we knew we just hat to come out and punch first today.”

Okotoks landed the first blow in the bottom of the first with McCoy Pearce driving in Brendan Luther on a sacrifice fly.

The Miller Express counter-punched with Greyson Barrett’s RBI double in the second off Dawgs starter Brady Baltus.

The Linn Benton freshman took over from there, completing six innings with just one run allowed on two hits while striking out nine.

“Coming into this series I knew I would have Game 3 if it happened,” Baltus said. “I just came in with all the confidence in the world. The team has been balling out all year so I just had to go out and have the team behind me.”

SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4387WEB
Dawgs pitcher Brady Baltus got the start in Game 3 of the WCBL Final at Seaman Stadium on Aug. 18 and went six innings to pick up the victory. Robert Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY

In the top of the third, McDowell showcased his range in the outfield for a highlight reel diving catch to prevent an extra bases leadoff hit from Zach Campbell.

“I was just trying to put my body on the line for our pitchers, they’ve pitched well for us all series,” McDowell said. “We just knew we had to play really good defence behind them and put up a couple of runs and we would be fine.”

Okotoks took a 3-1 lead in the fourth with Alex Stufft hitting a sacrifice fly and Caleb Lumbard providing an RBI single on a sharp liner past first base.

Stufft added another RBI in the fifth to score McDowell on a single to left field as Okotoks took advantage of its considerable speed on the basepaths with six stolen bases on the night.

“We know we can run well one through nine,” said McDowell. “We just had to take advantage of their mistakes.

“We wanted to turn singles into triple by stealing a couple bags instead of having to get three hits in a row. We did a great job tonight playing small ball.”

SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4424WEB
Okotoks Dawg Alex Stufft slides into second base during Game 3 action on Aug. 18. (Robert Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY)

With the capacity crowd chanting his nickname ‘Tugboat’, dominant reliever Matt Wilkinson retired the side in order in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts and fly out to McDowell in the outfield to close the deal.

“The emotions were there, I definitely was nervous going into this game,” said Wilkinson, a Dawgs Academy alumnus. “That’s what you work for. I work for big moments like that, I love the pressure, I love being put in difficult spots to prove people wrong.”

Luther was named the Playoff MVP, finishing the postseason with a .448 batting average with 13 hits, 11 runs and three RBI.

The title bookends what’s been a historically successful campaign for the Dawgs.

Okotoks set a WCBL record with 43 regular season victories while eclipsing its own benchmark for total attendance (113,825) and average attendance (4,216) and welcoming its one-millionth fan through the gates during a summer in which Okotoks played host to a memorable WCBL All-Star Game.

“The moment we put pressure on ourselves is the moment I feel like we crumble and we don’t play as well as a team,” Wilkinson said. “When we just go out there and have fun and keep doing our thing, no one is going to beat us. That’s how we thought.

“It’s a mindset for sure, but it’s also just remembering this is just a game. At the end of the day, you’re here to have fun. It’s summer ball, we love to have fun and there’s no better way than to do a Dawg pile.”

SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4577WEB
Okotoks Dawgs first baseman McCoy Pearce gets the tag down on Moose Jaw's Michael Speck to record an out during Game 3. (Robert Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY)

The Dawgs’ other championship seasons were in 2019, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2004, the latter of which was while the team was operating out of Calgary.

Wilkinson, a member of the 2019 team, said this incarnation of the Dawgs truly was a special group.

“It’s two completely different teams and I think it’s different now because I’m not in high school,” said Wilkinson. “But I feel like with this team, I’ve never seen a group of 30 people in the span of two months that I could call my best friends.

“We became such a tight group, we became best friends. It’s hard to put into words, but I’m going to love every one of these guys for a very long time.”

SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4732WEB
The Dawgs celebrate the championship on Aug. 18. (Robert Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY)
SPORTS Dawgs Final Game 3 RK 4738WEB
Head coach Mitch Schmidt and the Okotoks Dawgs salute their fans post-game as part of the championship celebration. (Roebrt Korotyszyn/OkotoksTODAY)

 


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
Read more



Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks