Big Strike Zone Surprises Canucks

On paper it doesnt look very good but on the field of play the Moose Jaw 18U AA Canucks showed signs near brilliance at times in the Friday evening matchup against the Regina Blue Jays.

Despite their strong defensive response the Canucks fell 10 - 0 in a five inning mercy rule loss to the Blue Jays.

“It’s just a matter of running into a very good pitcher. He’s a third year pitcher throwing pretty good gaffe and we just have to adapt to a bigger strike zone that was there,” Curtis Novak head coach of the Canucks said in a post game interview.

The offence was hard to get going partially due to the larger strike zone called.

“No we couldn’t get it going at all. With that many strikeouts I will give it y try I the guys the strike zone was quite large compared to every other game. But that’s just something we have got to adjust to. They go through the lineup and they see what balls and strikes are being called and they have to adjust,” Novak said.

Defensively the third and fourth innings were played strongly by the Canucks.

The third inning was a three up and three down situation. The fourth inning was similar.

“That was our pitcher Brady Novak going in and knowing where that umpire is calling strikes and hitting those spots over, over and over again to hit those spots,” he said.

The fourth inning at the pitcher’s mound was the same.

“He dialed in and just had to hit those spots,” he said.

Asked if he thought the pitching has improved with half a season now under their belts he said pitching has never been a major problem.

“Pitching has never been a problem though we have a young and inexperienced team. Again it’s mostly been offence…but we are starting to see light and it’s only going to get better from here on out.”

The recent inclement weather has had an effect on the team’s practice schedule but it’s something all teams in the league have had to put up with.

“We’ve cancelled a lot more practices than we’ve had. There’s always a lingering thunderstorm out there that screws things up,” Novak said.

The team is still developing.

“We’ve made strides in the right direction In every aspect of the game.”

he mentioned the series against the Battleford and how they had pulled off a mercy rule victory there giving them a lot of confidence because North Battleford is a very strong team.

“It’s just we’ve got to string some wins together now.”