Ryley clinches berth in epic 11-inning tie

t was a headline writer’s dream come true – or so it seemed:

“Sten-sational performance” – Stensrud 11 innings 1 run given up.

“Don of a New Day” – Donny Oslund 11 innings 1 run given up.

“Pistol Pete” – Neufield saves season with gundown at the plate.

“Masters of Defence” INSERT WINNING TEAM shuts down…wait a second.

Nope. No winner tonight. Daylight ran out, 11 innings went by and to the casual PBL observer it seemed nothing was solved.

But the Rebels know better. They clinch third place and sent Bardo back to the drawing board with a chance to clinch Tuesday night at home – but as the visiting team due to the recent rains in Armena.

The tie has seemingly ended any chance for any controversy to end the season. Bardo wins, they are in. Armena wins, then they have to beat Tofield in their final game to get in.

Stensrud said he felt fine after the game. Although the pitch counts were fairly low each inning, 11 frames is quite a feat. Oslund used the old hot water bottle and his thousand dollar arm to stymie Ryley most of the night. It left ol’ Milt Michalek shaking his head as he was hoping Oslund would be able to go in Kindersly on the weekend.

And the pitchers also got help from both defences, who matched each other toe-to-toe. Several times throughout the game teams each got out of jams with the winning or go-ahead runs on second and third with less than two outs even

The game marked the first time teams have tied due to darkness since the new extra inning rule was instituted in 2008.

Game time is at 7 p.m. again at the B.R.A.G. Tuesday night.

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Jason Buzzell