Dan Olson, Coquitlam NOW
Published: Friday, July 24, 2009Coquitlam Little League has finally completed its hardware collection.
The Coquitlam A's ended a 54-year wait Tuesday when Brian Choi struck out the North Vancouver Red Sox's last batter on three pitches to record the final out of the B.C. Senior (15-16) Little League championship at Blue Mountain Park.
It capped a dramatic 6-4 comeback that catapults the team of 15 players and four coaches off to St. John, NB in two weeks time for the national championship. The end result was also CLL's first-ever senior provincial title. It had proven to be an elusive level to conquer, but Coquitlam's teenage crew did it in style.
HIGH HEAT: Coquitlam A's Brian Choi fires another pitch during Tuesday's B.C. Senior Little League championship final at Blue Mountain Park. The 14-year-old Choi went the distance as Coquitlam rallied to beat West Vancouver 6-4 in seven innings.
Submitted photo by Bob Moody
"This is a first ever for the club. Personally, I've been chasing this thing for 20 years," beamed A's manager Bruce Michael, who reached the pinnacle with his son Cam helping coach and wife Terri serving as tournament director. "It's a family affair. We all love it."
The accomplishment boiled down to pitching and patience.
"I always knew that my teammates could pull off this win," Choi said of the seventh-inning rally. "We have a great team this year, and our offence hasn't been better than this."
It required some patience, as the team was making contact but not recording many hits off North Van's top pitcher over the first four innings.
After having handled North Van 13-6 Sunday to clinche their spot in the final of the double-knockout tourney, Coquitlam had a tough time getting on base Tuesday night. North Van pitcher Stefan Goddard looked sharp, and when the A's did hit the ball hard it was right at a fielder.
"That gets real frustrating to try and figure out," Michael remarked. "You want to start kicking buckets around in the dugout when you're hitting the ball harder than they are but somehow they're managing to put runs on the board. But we showed good patience."
Trailing most of the game, and down 4-2 with three at bats left, the A's started the seventh with a lead-off double by Brady Veltin to left field to ignite the comeback. Goddard proceeded to rack up two outs, followed by two walks to load the bases.
After the Sox changed pitchers, Veltin scored on a wild pitch, and they decided to walk shortstop Tyler Yorko, who registered the A's first run with a long homer in the fifth. It put the spotlight on outfielder Jorgan Tennant, one he was ready for.
Showing a lot of patience at the plate, Tennant struck the ball hard but right at the North Van shortstop -- who saw it bounce under his glove for a two-run error that gave Coquitlam a 5-4 lead.
"I was trying to ignore [the pressure]," Tennant noted with a grin. "I got lucky. I hit it [and] he messed up.... It's a weight off our shoulders, for sure. Now I can sleep."
They added one more run and then turned the ball over to Choi for a tense-filled three outs. A one-out walk and two-out error put runners aboard, but the Archbishop Carney student locked up the win with a strikeout on his 97th pitch of the day.
"I felt really good getting the last strikeout, partly because if I did not get that batter I would have been pulled," Choi, 16, said. "I was well over my pitch count limit, and I really wanted to finish the game."
"Their starting pitcher (Goddard) is a helluva kid, he threw a great game," he said. "He kept us off-balance enough that we couldn't string that crucial set of hits earlier. [North Van] was pretty much in control but we had faith.
"We said to the kids that there was a lot of baseball left."
Now the squad turns its focus to New Brunswick, where they'll arrive on Aug. 7 and start playing Aug. 8.
The confidence and momentum from Tuesday's victory will be useful elements for the week-long tourney.
"Everything just clicked in the last inning, "Tennant said. "We played our game and it paid off... There's more to come, for sure."
The team consists of: Travis Bartlett, Cody Carlisle, Brian Choi, Kris Fibish, Russ Halladay, Darren Honeysett, Trevor Jorger, Benny Maeda, Ronnie Parrish, David Spalding, Jorgan Tennant, John Velten, Brady Veltin, Cody West, Tyler Yorko and Cody Zazulak, manager Bruce Michael and coaches Sandon Fraser, Bill Letcher, Cam Michael, Shayn Solberg and Brayden Tonogai.
