Massey comeback earns city baseball title

The Vincent Massey Vikings chalked up five runs in the fourth inning to overcome a 3-0 deficit and make off with 16-5 victory over the Neelin Spartans in the high school city baseball championships at Andrews Field on Saturday.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Massey pitcher Madden Cheung. “It was a close game until about the fourth inning, but we battled hard and it was a fun game to play.”

Cheung and the Vikings were the only club to go 2-0 in the Zone 15 final, which featured a round-robin style with all three city high schools playing against each other once. They began their quest for the city title with a morning meeting against the Crocus Plainsmen, who they were able to take down 16-0, but not before a flurry of snow came whirling down at the ball park.

The Spartans and Plainsmen then found themselves in a back-and-fourth contest in a bit friendlier weather during the second game of the day, however, the green sweaters were eventually able to break through with a 9-7 win despite being down a few runs late in the game.

The final matchup of the day set up a winner-takes-all battle between Massey and Neelin, with the winner moving on to play the champion from the Winnipeg schools in Zone 2 in Portage la Prairie on May 28 for a berth in provincials, which will be held in Selkirk in early June.

The Vikings beat the Spartans by a huge margin of 15-1 nearly a week before, but it was actually the Spartans who looked like the better club from the get-go. Pitcher Lucas Gamache completely shut the door for Neelin at the top of the first inning and then continued his dominance on offence with some solid contact to help his team collect a 3-0 lead heading into the second inning.

Massey got on the board with one run at the top of the second and then Massey head coach Garrett Popplestone turned to Cheung to pitch following a less than ideal start. And it proved to be the right call, as the 15-year-old weathered the storm, keeping Neelin’s bats quiet through the middle innings and allowing just two more runs the rest of the way.

“We’ve had a lot of good defensive players this year who’ve been consistent and Madden’s been one of those leaders,” Popplestone said. “He threw those strikes when we needed him to and today was one of those days. He got on the mound, found a groove and found the strike zone and did what we needed him to do to be successful today, so I’m happy with his performance and the rest of the guys on defence.”

Massey finally got to Gamache in the fourth, putting together a four-run burst to take control of the game and once they did, they never let go. Neelin struggled to generate much offence after that, adding just two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, while the Vikings kept piling on runs inning after inning. Gamache got pulled in the fifth after allowing three more runs and Jaxten Woychyshyn came in relief of Cheung with a few innings to spare.

The game eventually ended at the bottom of the seventh thanks to the mercy rule with Massey up 16-5.

While Cheung admitted his team may have had some nerves at the start, he was happy with how his team responded after.

“We were all nervous, for sure with provincials but then we played good and just battled back,” said Cheung, who’s toed the mound for around eight years now. “They started pitching the fourth inning and everybody was up, everybody had energy and it makes a big difference. Games like these that matter a lot, so I think we just got on them.”

Now he and the Vikings have a chance to make their second provincials appearance in three years after they went 0-2 in pool play two years ago. Cheung said he’s not ready to get ahead of himself just yet, though.

“Hopefully we can go to provincials, it would just be an awesome feeling, but if not, it’s been a great season with the guys and I’m just happy to be a part of it,” he said.

Popplestone agreed.

“It’s obviously very exciting, but playing Zone 2 is going to be a difficult task in itself,” he added. “They’re going to be challenging because they’re always strong schools that are coming out of there, so we’re trying not to look too far ahead and just one step at a time. Just give everything we’ve got so that we can get past and get a seat into provincials”

The Vikings still managed fine without their top player in the lineup, Cason Burton. The Grade 11 right-handed pitcher who’s part of Team Manitoba’s U17 squad and was also a representative at last summer’s Canada Games was not available because of other baseball commitments. If he’s at Popplestone’s disposal for the interzone matchup, though, Massey has a much stronger chance at coming out on top.

Regardless, Popplestone believes not much changes except staying active and ready.

“I just think being mindful with arms and doing the right preparation,” he said. “Getting lots of swings and just staying sharp with some of those aspects because there’s a bit of a stretch here where if you’re not doing anything, you can start to work backwards. We want to keep going forward and we’re going to keep our guys swinging in the cage and hopefully keep those tools sharp for when we need them.”

The Vikings were the last Brandon squad to capture a provincial title back in 2014.

» mdelucataronno@brandon.com