15U Nationals Game #2 - Team BC victorious as the clock strikes midnight for Team Quebec

There’s one thing you can guarantee whenever Team BC and Team Quebec square off on the diamond – you’re in for an unforgettable game. Last year at the Ray Carter Cup, these two powerhouses met in the first game of pool A and fought for 10 innings before BC walked away with a 7-6 win. They would meet again in the grand final where BC won it on a 6th inning homer, breaking a 2-2 tie. Now BC had to deal with Les Bleus in their home province, on a dark, drizzly night. The game was originally scheduled to start at 9pm, following a short bus ride from the opening ceremonies at the main park. However, a series of unfortunate events and some uncertainty in the forecast led to the start time being pushed back to 9:45pm. For a while, Team BC was wondering if they’d even get the game in that night because they were waiting at the park for well over half an hour before the Quebec team arrived at the park. Eventually, they did roll in roughly 25 minutes ahead of game time, so it was time to play ball! 

Team Quebec 2, Team BC 3

Tyler McWhinnie was tasked with keeping Quebec’s left-handed heavy batting order in check on this night. He posted a 0.74 ERA over 56.2 innings pitched with the Mid-Island Pirates this season, making him the definitive #1 southpaw in the province. Last year, 12 of the 18 players on Quebec’s roster were left-handed hitters, so the coaching staff knew from experience that having McWhinnie’s arm as a weapon would be invaluable. Low and behold, Quebec’s #1 through #4 hitters were all lefties, McWhinnie getting through the top of the 1st scot-free. Quebec did manage to string three singles together in the 2nd, bringing home two runs in the process. Now in the 4th, Quebec set themselves up for some insurance tallies with runners on second and third. An error at first base and a perfectly placed grounder through the left side accounted for the traffic, then a wild pitch allowed both runners to gain an extra 80 feet with one out. Lucas Holt took over for McWhinnie on the bump, who had reached the 65-pitch threshold through 3.1 innings. First, he sat down the bat that drove in the previous two runs of the game, battling back from a 3-1 count and inducing a couple of whiffs for the second out. Next up was the opposing pitcher, who struck out looking in his prior plate appearance – and Holt caught him looking again, stranding a pair of baserunners to keep his team within striking distance. 2-0 Quebec heading to the bottom of the 4th. 

BC was having a lot of trouble seeing the ball out of the pitcher’s hand in the darkness. Through their first three offensive innings, they hadn’t had a baserunner yet, and given how much work they had already done to limit Quebec to their two runs, the game didn’t quite feel as close as it still was. Connor Fischer provided a spark from the bottom of the order, trotting down to first after getting plunked and later “swimming upstream” by swiping second base. The stage was set for Jack Redpath’s signature moment of the tournament – he uncorked on a fastball and landed it at the base of the 270-sign in right field for a one-out triple, Fischer crossing home plate to make it 2-1. Desmond Tregaskis worked a walk immediately after Redpath’s blast and was promptly lifted for pinch runner Reece Abbott. Trying to create a run on the bases, Abbott broke towards second on a delayed steal and drew the throw from the Quebec catcher, but he was tagged out at second base before Redpath could break for home. BC could only scratch the one run across, now only trailing by one after four complete innings. 

Once again, Holt was forced to pitch out of trouble in the top of the 5th after Quebec’s #10 hitter led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. This time, he dismissed the #2 and #3 hitters to keep the one-run deficit intact - his nasty off-speed pitches were dancing just as they were when he shut down the UBC Thunder in the PBL Championship Final last month. In the bottom half of the inning, another free pass got the rally started. Mason Dubnov drew a walk and was gifted second base thanks to a balk call, then moved over to third on a groundout, much like Quebec’s runner did in the top half. Sadly, that was the last contact BC could muster in the inning, as Dubnov would be left stranded, denied the opportunity to tie the game. After a 1-2-3 top of the 6th, BC was thrown another curveball on this extraordinary Thursday night – the lights went out. At this point, it was approximately 11:30pm, we’re now stuck in a 15-20 minute delay while we wait for the lights to turn back on. Even when they did come back to life, there were a few individual lights that remained blacked out. It was already dark enough with all the lights turned on, now the last couple half-innings (possibly more, with extras still looming) were destined to be even darker. At least for Quebec, they would be... 

Our resident ball-magnet Connor Fischer stepped in for the second time in the bottom of the 6th and totally didn't lean into the 1-2 pitch – there were at least a couple other similar examples over the course of the tournament that the umpires never called back, and this one would stand as well despite the protests from the Quebec coaching staff. Carter Bestebroer was then asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, and for the second time in as many games, the opposing defence couldn't field the bunt. Quebec’s catcher picked up the bunt and airmailed it into the bullpen down the right field line, reminiscent of the error that cost Quebec the opening game of the tournament against BC a year ago. The bullpens are considered out of play at Parc Chénier, so the overthrow set up BC with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second. Much like last inning, there would be no more balls put in play to cash in the runs. Both runs scored on wild pitches by the Quebec reliever, as Fischer and Bestebroer took matters into their own hands, both getting perfect reads on balls in the dirt and gambling with a short backstop to put BC in front 3-2. And that’s how you score two runs without a hit after midnight.