Haulers lose to Weyburn in provincial semis
The Estevan Sherritt Coal Haulers were one good inning away from reaching the final of the bantam AA provincials on Sunday in Weyburn.
Instead, the hosts reeled off three runs in the top of the seventh inning to oust the Haulers from the tournament with a 9-6 victory.
Weyburn went on to lose 14-1 to the Swift Current Indians in the final, with a berth in next month's Westerns on the line.
"We knew it would be a tight game, we knew it could go either way and we couldn't finish it off. We knew if we both put our best nine out there it'd be close," said Haulers manager Lindsay Clark.
Estevan took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but Weyburn slowly clawed away at the lead and eventually took a 6-4 lead.
The Haulers tied it 6-6 on a home run by Austin Kuchinka in the sixth inning.
"We would have liked to face Swift Current in the final," Clark said. "It seemed like Weyburn was playing it like it was their championship to beat us."
The Haulers got to the playoff stage by finishing first in their pool, mercying Yorkton and Martensville in their round-robin games and handily winning their quarter-final contest.
Weyburn had placed second in their pool.
"When you lose, you always know that if a couple of things happened you could have gone further.
"The year is about building and the goal is to do well in provincials," said Clark, who added that his squad missed out on a lot of game and practice time this year due to flooding but acknowledged that many teams were in the same boat.
