With a chance to win a B.C. Baseball provincial championship title, the Lomak Knights decided to try the riskiest play in the game.
It worked.
On Aug. 7 at Citizen Field, the Knights defeated the Ladner Red Sox 8-7 in front of a frenzied crowd of their supporters. To score the winning run, the Knights successfully executed a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the final inning.
On the play, runner Scott Walters broke from third base as soon as Ladner's Ryan Mackenzie released his pitch. Then, batter Matt Knight - with all the pressure squarely on his shoulders - laid down a bunt that left the ball spinning in the dirt a few feet from home plate. The play worked beautifully, and the speedy Knight reached home before Red Sox catcher Jordan Dawson could do anything about it.
"My heart was racing that whole time - it was a crazy play and I was so scared," Walters told The Citizen's Ted Clarke. "I got a good jump and Matty laid down the bunt perfectly, it couldn't have gone any better. It was a game-changer and we won - the best feeling in my whole life."
Added Knight: "That's the first squeeze I've done in my life and it feels so good to win that way. It was a back-and-forth battle all game long. Even when they hit that home run we knew we could still come back from it and that's exactly what we did."
Ladner was ahead 5-2 in the fourth inning but saw that advantage turn into a 6-5 Prince George lead as the game continued. Then, in the top of the last inning - with two out - Will Robinson of the Red Sox hit a two-run home run to left field to put his team in position to win.
In their final at-bat, the Knights got the tying run from Dylan Lukinchuk, who scored on a sacrifice fly by Cole Schwing. Walters, who had reached base on an error, advanced to third on that play, which set up the squeeze-play dramatics.
To get to the final, the scrappy Knights won a pair of elimination games, 13-3 against the Campbell River Tyees in a tiebreaker and 9-2 over the Tsawwassen Dodgers in a semifinal playoff.
"We have a great group of kids here and there's nothing sweeter than winning with people you care about," said Knights third-base coach Jody Hannon. "I couldn't be prouder of the boys."
