The Estevan Tower Wolves have been a tale of two teams lately.
They had lost five of their last six Saskota Baseball League regular season games entering last night's finale in Redvers, four of them by lopsided scores.
Meanwhile, they defeated the Regina Red Dogs 2-1 on Wednesday to win their best-of-three series and advance to the second round of provincial qualifying.
The Wolves will likely face the Regina Capitals, the top team in the Qu'Appelle Valley league, but no dates have been set yet.
Devin Aspinall's two-run double in the first inning was the difference for Estevan on Wednesday.
Regina scored a run in the top of the seventh and was threatening to pull even with runners on first and second, but a flyout ended the game.
Justin Kendall threw a complete game for the Wolves, who had lost Game 2 4-2 last Monday in Regina.
In regular season play, the Wolves (8-6) lost both their games last week and another on Monday with the Harbourne playoff tournament coming up this weekend in Kenosee.
Last Tuesday, the Wolves came up just short in a 8-7 nailbiter at the hands of the Lampman Pirates (9-6).
With only last night's contest remaining, that loss could be the difference between Estevan finishing third or fourth.
On Thursday, the squad took a 15-2 beating from the second-place Carnduff Astros (11-4-1). They also lost 9-1 on Monday to Kenosee (6-7-2).
Aspinall said the Wolves have been shorthanded lately, but he expects to have a full squad this weekend.
"It's been a problem getting guys to be able to go to the games right now, so I'm not too worried about the scores."
The playoffs begin Friday night with the top four teams each hosting a game on their home turf.
Carlyle and Carnduff have clinched the top two spots, but the Wolves still had a chance to tie the Pirates for third if they defeated Redvers and the Pirates lose to Kenosee tonight.
If that happens, the Wolves will take third based on better run differential in head-to-head games.
The remaining spots are so tight that the Tower Wolves could end up facing any of Kenosee, the Lampman Cubs, Redvers or Wawota on Friday.
The four remaining teams will head to Kenosee on Saturday to determine the league champion.
"We're pretty positive because our whole team will be there and we should be fresh and give ourselves a chance," Aspinall said.
