The seventh inning was scary to watch for Julie Dempsey but the nightmare ended with her Prince George Nechako Rotary Timberwolves still on the winning side of the ledger Friday morning.
The T-wolves opened the midget under-18 boys C provincial fastball championship with a 9-7 win over Fleetwood of Surrey, which came as a huge relief to Dempsey, the T-wolves coach, who watched her team give up four runs in the seventh and final inning to make it close game.
"We played well and we won, but they had last bats and we got a little sloppy at the end," said Dempsey. "We had two out but then they got a little too casual and they got pretty careless with their fielding but we still pulled it off."
Brydon Lessard went the distance for Prince George, collecting six strikeouts and walking just one Fleetwood batter.
"He did very well, it was just that last inning where it was all infielding errors and they were all overthrows, 'Let's try to get that guy at home even though he's already there.' They played such a great game up until that last out."
Shortstop Lucas Day delivered two timely line drives for the Timberwolves and had plenty of support from teammates Dempsey, Lessard, Jerriko Prince, Austin Haugen and Nick Olson. Coach Dempsey was also impressed with bantam callups Abraham, Brayden Rentz and Branden Edwards. Kameron Rhodes and Braeden Boomhower are the other T-wolves playing in Clearwater.
The T-wolves had just one tournament tuneup for their run at the provincial title when they finished third out of six junior teams at the Canada Day all-native tournament. That gave Prince George pitchers Lessard, Ethan Abraham and Spencer Dempsey a chance to pitch without taking an extra step back, which is legal in house league play but not at the provincial level.
The T-wolves took on top-ranked Clearwater Friday night and lost 7-6.
Prince George faces Williams Lake today at 9:30 a.m., then plays Smithers at 1:30 p.m. Playoffs in the five-team C tournament start tonight.
