Brandon-based fastball team wins provincials

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This article was published 13/07/2022 (1392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Oji-Cree Warriors earned gold at the under-17 provincial championship in Cross Lake on the weekend, but what they learned along the way might prove even more important.

The Softball Manitoba event, which was held from Friday to Sunday, featured three teams, with the Brandon-based Warriors managed by Patrick and Courtney Leask.

“It really means a lot to our family because we put a lot of work into these young men,” Patrick Leask said of the title. “I always tell them that it’s not always about softball. We’re mentoring these young athletes to be better at not only softball but be better at school and if you’re working in the summer, always make sure you’re on time.

“My wife and I take great pride in trying to be that role model for them to excel at whatever they do. It’s about creating opportunities for these kids when they’re done high school and going to college or university.”

Six members of the 14-player all-Indigenous team live in the area, including Brandonites Evan Asham, Nathanial Flett-Neapew (Pine Creek) and Brannigan Ferland (Sapotaweyak Cree Nation), Dauphin’s Trayden Guiboche (Skownan) and Norman Lacquette (Peguis/Mallard) and Kobe McKee of the Waywayseecappo First Nation.

The provincial championship is open territory, which means players can pick which team they want to play for rather than staying in their geographic district. (Boys’ and girls’ AAA hockey in Saskatchewan has the same rule.)

As a result, the team has eight players from the Cross Lake-area Pimicikamak Cree Nation — Morley Flett, Deshaun Ross, Kayden Richard, Vander Monias, Terran Settee and Phienix Scatch, plus current Winnipeg residents Corson Beardy and Terris Jonasson — along with Winnipeg’s Conner Weber-McKay (Nelson House) and Teegan Jonasson (Pine Creek).

Oji-Cree played some men’s teams to prepare for the event — losing all four games — but in their own age group were undefeated this season going into provincials.

The Warriors opened the double round-robin on Friday, beating Team Xtreme 8-4 in their opener. Flett earned the victory on the mound, with Guiboche homering and McKee going 3-for-3.

In the second game, the Warriors routed the Blue Jays 10-1, with McKee earning the win and going 3-for-3 at the plate, a feat duplicated by Ferland.

The Warriors earned another nine-run win over the Blue Jays on Saturday with a 9-0 shutout win. Flett was on the mound, with McKee and Beardy both going 3-for-3.

In an important game that decided who would be the home team in the final, Oji-Cree edged Team Xtreme 7-6 in their fourth game of the round-robin, with Ross earning the win on the mound and Lacquette, Jonasson and Flett-Neapew each contributing a pair of hits.

“Our hitting this weekend was the best it has been all season,” Leask said. “We have a really strong hitting team and they showed that. The balls were hit hard on the ground and out in the field. That was one of our strongest parts of the game, that the kids could hit.

“Some of these kids were transitioning in from hardball to fastball, and at the start of the season you could see that potential but by this past weekend they came together with a strong lineup from one to nine and even with our spares. I could rely on anybody.”

That led to Sunday’s showdown in the final with Team Xtreme. For the first four games of the tournament, the Warriors lost the coin flip every time and batted first.

After having earned the home game by going 4-0 in the round-robin, Leask asked his players prior to the final what they wanted to do, and they decided to bat first rather than taking the field.

“They were that confident that they wanted to hit first,” Leask said with a chuckle. “I would have wanted to be in the field but they wanted to hit so I was like ‘Go for it. You make the call.’ The umpire and the other team kind of looked surprised.”

The teams were tied 1-1 after two innings, with the Warriors adding a run in the third and two in the fifth to go up 4-2. In the sixth and final inning they added three more runs to go up 7-2 but then had to withstand a determined comeback effort after Team Xtreme rallied to make it 7-6.

“They made it close,” Leask said. “They scored four runs and the tying run was on third and the winning run was on second. We ended up getting a pop-out to right field for the win.”

When Ross made the catch, Leask said he had a happy group of players on his hands.

“The excitement that they had with the 7-6 win, you could just see they were relieved when the ball in the sixth inning with two out in the last at bat, and Deshaun catching that pop fly,” Leask said. “You could see the relief and they were off the bench and crowded into a pile.

“It was good to see with all the hard work we did the last couple of years to attend our first provincials. It was something we won’t forget.”

Flett earned the victory, and helped himself at the plate with two hits in three at-bats. Jonasson went 3-for-4 and Beardy 3-for-3.

The win earned the Warriors a trip to nationals, which will take place in Saskatoon from Aug. 9 to 14.

McKee was picked as most valuable player for the tournament, but the award was given for his hard work, dedication to his teammates and game readiness as much as what he accomplished on the field.

Leask said he talked to his team in the last week about how important it was to take care of their bodies, especially with how hot it was. In addition, he said the eight Pimicikamak players were competing in their own community, so they had to be focused.

“Just being on a different team and playing against kids they grew up with, that was one thing I mentioned, and coming to the game mentally prepared,” said Leask, who noted they trailed only once and were able to work together as a team to come back. “A 7-6 game only made them better players.”

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