Rosychuk's dingers douse Jr. Blazers

Brody Rosychuk was the home run hero Saturday for the Prince George Junior Blazers at the Canadian Native Fastball Championships.
Not just once but twice Rosychuk took a pitch from Big Guy Lake Blazers hurler Wacy Strongeagle,and deposited the ball in the woods behind the fence at Carrie Jane Gray Park.
Rosychuk's first blast tied the game in the fifth inning and he cleared the bases again in the tiebreaking sixth-inning with a three-run shot that lifted the River Kings to an 11-5 victory.
"That picked up my team there, I came in clutch the first time and tied it up and the second I hit it hard again," said the 17-year-old Rosychuk. "I didn't really think about it, I just went up and tried to hit the ball hard and I did."
Rosychuk's bat also came up big in the River Kings' opening 8-1 win Friday over the Ochaowace Thunder, and he was solid defensively at third base.
Rosychuk's dad Rick, who is helping coach his son's team, used to play senior ball on the Prince George River Kings and Black Bears with junior River Kings co-coach Randy Potskin. That connection also led to Ryder McConnell of Goodfish Lake joining the River Kings junior squad for this weekend's tournament.
The teams were tied 5-5 at the end of the fifth when the one-hour 45-minute time limit was reached, and international rules were used to break the tie, meaning each team started the sixth inning with a runner on second base.
Lane Desjarlais laid down a bunt and Tyson Ghostkeeper took off from second base and scored on an errant toss to second base. Nicholas Potskin then hit to third base and reached safely when the force-out attempt was dropped, which set the stage for Rosychuk's three-run dinger. He reached out to get his bat on Strongeagle's low outside pitch, finishing the day 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBI.
The Blazers were trailing 3-2 in the third inning when leadoff hitter Jeremy Gervais launched a Josh Anderson offering out of the park, the first round-tripper of the season for Gervais. The River Kings got another run across in their half of the fourth and Strongeagle followed that in the bottom of the fourth with a basehit which drove in two runs. The Blazers ended up one run short of what would have been a big upset over their Prince George rivals and gained confidence pushing them to the limit.
"It was a good game, they'd beaten us previously the last couple times (at the Canada Day tournament) so it was nice to get them to extras," said Gervais. "Hopefully we can meet them again in finals and show that we can beat them. Knowing those guys, you see them around town and you want to have bragging rights. We're a new club and they're kind of a veteran team and to show we can play with them right now is good."  
Anderson kept the ball on the ground to help out the River Kings' defence and the Vancouver import allowed just two hits, but the Blazers took advantage of a couple errors to score five runs.
"It was a bit tight at the end there, I know we have a good team but sometimes gelling takes a bit of time," said Potskin.
The River Kings lost to the Goodish Lake Chiefs 4-3 in the A final Saturday night. The Chiefs, who defeated the James Smith (Sask.) Thunderbirds 7-0 Saturday afternoon in the other semifinal playoff, will play inthe championship game Sunday at 2 p.m. at Minor Boys Field at Carrie Jane Gray Park.
In the women's division, the Northern Selects of Prince George were eliminated Saturday when they lost 11-0 to the Quilchena A's.

Sunday's playoff schedule

Tournament results
Men's Division (SATURDAY)
23. Freshii Hitmen 9 vs. Kainai Tribe 2
24. Stoney Creek Braves 4 Seqwyits 0
25. Ashcroft Jays 19 vs. Muskowpetung 1
26. LBB 15 Paul Band T-Birds 3
27.  Treaty 7 Chiefs vs. Cross Lake DB (Rotary)
28. Okanagan Raiders 15 Shuswap 6
29. Kainai Tribe 5 ChuChua Warriors 4
30. Mallard Stars vs. Seqwyits
31. Moricetown 8 Piapot Padres 4
32. Takla Lakers vs James Smith (MG)
33. Alexander TPC vs NB Hawks (Rotary)
34. Westbank Cards 7 Gift Lake 0
35. River Kings vs Freshii Hitmen

JR MEN'S DIVISION (Minor Boy's)
8. Moricetown 14 vs Cross Lake Pirates 12
9. 7:30am FHQ Chiefs 5 vs Ochapwace Thunder 1
10.Moricetown 5 Nak'azdli Chiefs 3
11. Jr. River Kings 11 Big Guy Lake Jr Blazers 5
12. Goodfish Lake 7 James Smith (0
13. Big Guy Lake 12 Moricetown 0

MASTER'S MEN'S (Ron Wiley Field)
9. Sask. Snappers 7 Binche Steelers 0
10. Randy's A's 10 Kodiak Bears 0
11. SKO Vets 6 Maskwacis Masters 4
12. Sask Rebels 5 Driftpile 86'ers 0
13. Nak'azdli Braves 5 Sapotaweyak 1
14. 4:15pm Redline vs Pimicikamak United

Master's Women (Minor Girls #2)
3. Westbank 9 Big Scoop Supreme 8
4. Koko QT's (14) Legacy (3)
5. Justice vs Big Scoop Supreme
6. Onerace vs Loser #4

Women's Division (SATURDAY)
19. Brown Eyed 16 Sioux Ladies 0
20. LNG Dreams 14 Four Directions 4
21. Diamond Jaxx 23 Lady Hawks 0
22. Keeseekoose 13 Salish Slensiani 2
23. Quilchena A's 11 Northern Selects 0
24. Brown Eyed Beauties 6 LNG Dreams 5
25. Red Nation (6) Curve Lake 0
26. Alexander TPC vs Cote
27. Piapot 5 Shuswap Windwalkers 1
28. Lacqueette 5 Edge 1