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Pee Wee AAA DQ Braves win bronze at National Western Championships

Aug 19, 2018 | 3:35 PM

Red Deer’s Pee Wee AAA DQ Braves baseball team has won a bronze medal at this year’s 13U National Western Championships held in Brandon, Manitoba August 16 – 19.

The achievement came after a 9-4 win over host team Brandon on Sunday morning.

Crediting a strong start on their way to victory, the Braves scored on a single by Spencer Claerhout, then a double by Dominic Skjonsberg and single by Mason Hastings in the first inning.

After Brandon scored two runs in the top of the fourth, the Braves answered with two of their own.

Brandon struck again however and singled on a 2-0 count then grounding out on another to pick up one more run.

The Braves answered again though when Matthew Murray singled on a 1-0 count, scoring two runs.

Team officials say Spencer Claerhout led the Braves to victory on the pitcher’s mound, surrendering four runs on four hits over five and a third innings while striking out seven. Dominic Skjonsberg threw one and two-thirds innings in relief out of the bullpen.

The Braves collected 11 hits on the day with Matthew Murray, Tysen Wandler and Spencer Claerhout all managing multiple hits for Red Deer. Murray went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Braves in hits.

Leading up to the bronze medal game, Red Deer’s first game last Thursday was a 20-12 victory over Saskatoon (SK2), which was then followed up with a 16-8 win over Oildome (MB1) Friday morning.

Friday afternoon saw the Braves fall 4-2 to B.C. while Saturday’s action saw the boys lose a close one 6-5 to St. Albert (AB1).

St. Albert would later go on to earn a silver medal after a 7-3 loss to B.C. in the gold medal game Sunday.

Braves Head Coach Brad Morrow says he and the boys are pretty ecstatic.

“We had pretty high expectations coming in here and the boys didn’t disappoint,” says Morrow. “Their fielding, their hitting, we had Spencer Claerhout on the mound and he pitched an unbelievable game today, followed by Dom Skjonsberg who came in and closed the door. The boys just came to play.”

He says the best word to describe the team is ‘gritty’.

“We never gave up, we always stayed within two-three runs and then we’d just go after them with our bats,” he exclaims. “Our fielding never let us down and our bats were always there to finish the game. “

Morrow says peaking at the right time this season helped them get to where they wanted to be.

“Going into provincials, we lost by one run in the semi’s to St. Albert but clinched third place in provincials by beating Okotoks,” says Morrow. “That team had our number all year long, they were 3-0 against us up until provincials and we laid the boots to them pretty good.”

In addition to he and the parents all being very proud of the accomplishment, Morrow says he will fondly look back on this season and marvels at how well the kids all got along.

“They all came to play every day,” states Morrow. “They were focused, we had a couple of kids that kept everyone loose, it was just a good meshed team and I look forward to the years to come. This age group here, these boys are going to be here again, I guarantee that.”  

Click here to view a slideshow of the Braves first 48 hours at the 13U National Western Championships.