The St. John's Winmar Capitals won their 12th consecutive provincial A senior baseball title in a four-game sweep over Grand Falls-Windsor Beothucks, but Caps coach Mark Healy says it was anything but a cakewalk.
The Caps beat the host Grand Falls-Windsor Beothucks 4-2 Saturday night to take the best-of-seven final 4-0 after a 4-3 afternoon win
Justin Crawley went the distance on the mound for St. John’s in the deciding contest, getting the victory over Jamie Jenkins.
Healy summed up the Caps’ performance saying they got great pitching, defence, timely hitting and team depth, adding the combination was just too much for the Beothucks, although the Grand Falls team certainly didn’t fold.
St. John’s may have swept the series, but none of its wins came by more than two runs. The Capitals won the first two games of the series at St. Pat’s Ball Park in St. John’s by 5-4 and 10-8 scores.
“They (Beothucks) played great,” said Healy. “It was a shot in the arm for Grand Falls-Windsor to have the provincial final out there because there wasn’t a whole lot going on their field at all.”
Healy said it’s good to see different centres involved in the final. The Caps’ previous wins in recent years have come against Mount Pearl, Pasadena and Corner Brook.
“This (Grand Falls-Windsor) is probably the toughest team we’ve faced in the past five years,” added Healey.
Brent Power, who led the Caps in hitting and RBIs and was runner-up to the Beothucks’ Dave Parsons as top batter, was selected the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Caps’ Karl DeHart, who has been battling a sore arm all season, was named top pitcher in the championship series.
St. John’s scored three runs in the top of the first inning and once in the fifth, while Grand Falls-Windsor got both of its runs in the bottom first.
St. John’s has lost only two games in winning the past five provincial finals.
The Capitals will represent the province at the nationals in Miramichi, N.B., Aug. 25-29.
St. John’s 4, Grand Falls-Windsor 3 (Game 3)
The Capitals scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on for the win.
The Beothucks came up just short with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
DeHart (4H, 4W, 4K) threw six shutout innings. Stefan Lono (3R, 2H, 1W, 1K) threw the last inning.
Chad Gulliver delivered a two-run triple to pace the Caps.
Peter Fifield (6.1 IP, 4R, 6H, 3W, 7K) took the loss. Scott Goosney finished up. Fifield and Goosney, who both pitch in the St. John’s senior league, were two of the four pickups the Beothucks were permitted. Grant Kenny of Mount Pearl — who did not play in the games at Grand Falls — and Corner Brook’s Darren Colbourne were the others.
jbrowne@thetelegram.com
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