Milleteers edge champs
Posted June 5, 2009
After a thrilling come from behind extra inning victory the night before the Milleteers had to head to the hostile Bardo Fair Ground to meet the defending champions. With Greg Jackson nursing a sore arm and Karl Zimmer still in the process of moving the Milleteers were looking for someone to step up and become a part of the starting rotation.
They gave heralded rookie Ryan Walker the chance, and he did not disappoint. Walker went six shutout innings, keeping the high scoring Bardo offense in check by only surrendering two hits. The only trouble he got into was in the six when he loaded the bases and looked to be tiring.
After a short visit to the mound from the manager where Walker confidently told the manager “I got this”, he was staring down Powerline League legend Donny Oslund with the game on the line. Despite the enormous experience gap between the two competitors, it was the rookie getting the last laugh as he froze Donny with a called third strike on the outside corner. Kevin Doyle came in to get the save in the seventh, but again he did not make it easy on himself as he botched a comebacker which led to Bardo’s only run.
Offensively it was the same old story for the Milleteers as they got lots of hits and runners on, but just could not get that key hit to break it open. Time will tell if the strategy of getting two or three runs and hoping the pitching and defense can hold up will work the whole season, but so far it seems to be doing the trick.
Next up for the Milleteers is a tournament in Camrose where they face off against Provost in their first game on Saturday.
Posted on June 5, 2009 by Steven Pahl
