National gold for Red Deer Braves 18U baseball squad

“It was the first time for all of us. We didn’t know what to expect, but we knew we had a good roster and felt we could compete for a medal. To get all the way and pull it off was a special moment,” says Zanolli, who’s been with the team for three seasons.

“We had consistent contributions from everyone. Ryder Petryshen was the best he’s been all year, and one of our pick-ups, Nicholas Westendorp, had an unreal semi with five innings of relief on the mound and he hit a game-tying home run in the 7th.”

Jake Brooks, Tanner Morrow, Corbin Lochhead and Zach MacDonald, some of their best guys all year, also had strong showing at nationals.

Red Deer is just the fourth Alberta team to win the 18U national title, and the first from Red Deer.

They did have five pick-ups from around Alberta after four roster players left for university and one was left empty by Nathan Flewelling, who earlier this summer was drafted by MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays.

Flewelling only played two regular season games for the Braves before joining the WCBL’s Sylvan Lake Gulls, but the Braves retained him on the roster until it was time for nationals.

Zanolli says the team didn’t start well this season, and that it took a while to find a groove.

“We never did get on a roll. They needed to grind for everything and that was a huge advantage for us at the end of the year,” says Zanolli, pointing to the semi-final come-from-behind victory, and a couple close calls at provincials where they did lose two games.

In the end, the win is big for baseball in Red Deer, he agrees.

“It’s not just our team’s success; look at the 15U AAA team which lost in the final at the Western Canada Championship, and the 13U team which did the same this month,” he says.

“Baseball’s pretty hot right now in central Alberta. It’s an exciting time and the talent pool gets deeper every year.

You can throw in Flewelling’s rise to the pro ranks, the baseball academy at St. Joseph High School, and the Gulls’ regular season success this year with a league record for wins as proof of said hotness

At the aforementioned 15U tournament, Red Deer went 3-1 in the round robin before losing to Abbotsford in the final. Davis Cadieux was awarded top hitter of the tournament with a batting average of .500, and Mac Warawa received top pitcher of the tournament with two hits and 11 strikeouts in game one.

The 13U Braves went 2-1 in pool play, beat a B.C. team from Cloverdale 5-3 in the semi, and then were defeated 10-0 by Regina for the gold.

The winning 18U club consisted of the following: Cash Buchwitz, Corbin Lochhead, Ryder Petryshen, Luke Schmitt, Nicholas Westendorp, Tanner Morrow, Mason Procter, Addison Giesbrecht, Hudson Hoy, Owen Coumont, Evan Gorr, Zach MacDonald, Michael Szpak, Noah Nakonechny, Jake Brooks, Nathan Vennard, Gavin Armstrong and Evan Russell.

Josh Zanolli served as head coach, with Brad Morrow and Curtis Flewelling the assistants, and Bobbi Buchwitz the team’s chef de mission.

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by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

National gold for Red Deer Braves 18U baseball squad

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