Canucks Roll to Championship at May Tournament

Submitted by Steve Radford

The Moose Jaw U13 AA Canucks delivered a dominant and memorable performance at the May 29–30 tournament, capping off an outstanding weekend by capturing the championship title.

The Canucks set the tone early, opening the tournament Friday with a decisive 18–1 victory over the Cardinal Crush.

Mason Taypotat led the way on the mound, allowing just one run in a strong starting performance, while Kolby Schultz came in to close out the game.

Offensively, Caiden MacDonald and Malcolm Duncan helped power a relentless attack at the plate.

Moose Jaw carried that momentum into Saturday morning, where Mateo Hall pitched a complete game, limiting the Royal Reign to just two runs in an 18–2 victory.

The Canucks’ offence continued to shine as contributions came from throughout the lineup in a true team effort.

Later that afternoon, the Canucks kept rolling with a 24–4 win over the Sask 5 Mavericks.

Beau Mayes pitched a strong game to hold the Mavericks in check, while Brian McNab-Key came on in relief to finish things off.

Once again, Moose Jaw’s offence proved too much to handle. Their speed on the bases created constant pressure, with Caiden MacDonald and James Eckstein running rampant and disrupting the Mavericks’ defence.

The Canucks’ dominant play through the round-robin earned them a spot in the A Final Saturday evening against a strong Knights team from Shellbrook.

In the championship game, Blake Radford delivered a standout performance, pitching the game of his life. Radford held the Knights to just two runs over 4 2/3 dominant innings, keeping Moose Jaw in control throughout.

Dash Timms was called upon in relief and calmly retired the final batter to secure the championship with a 9–2 victory.

Radford also made a major impact at the plate, blasting a two-run home run over the right-centre field fence in the third inning to give the Canucks an early lead they would never surrender.

Dash Timms contributed a pivotal at-bat early in the game, fouling off multiple pitches to extend the plate appearance and drive up the pitch count of the Knights’ top pitcher.

Adding the finishing touch, affiliate player Jacob Mayes delivered a clutch moment late in the game, ripping a hard ground ball that raced all the way to the fence and, thanks to his speed, turned it into an inside-the-park three-run home run to seal the victory.

Coach Steve Radford pointed to two key moments that helped define the championship win.

“I think there were two pivotal moments in that game,” he said. "Blake’s home run got our boys believing that they could hit the Knights pitcher that had been lights out to that point. It also planted a seed of doubt in their team that had dominated their way to the final."

He also highlighted Timms’ crucial plate appearance.

“I think the most important at-bat of the game came from Timsy,” Radford added. “He had an at-bat for the ages, fouling off tough pitch after tough pitch. I lost count of how many pitches it was, but it had to be at least 10 or more, and he finally worked his way on base.”

Radford added that the championship run was a testament to the group’s perseverance and character.

“I’m very proud of this group. Four games in two days is not easy. Many of them were battling through some issues but dug deep for their teammates to pull this out. Seeing the boys hoist the mighty cheese ball cup is something I will remember for a long time.”