The Sylvan Lake Gulls were three outs away from winning their first ever WCBL Championship, but the Regina Red Sox had no desire to see any celebration from their opponents.
The Gulls went into the top of the 9th with a 6-4 lead in a game they controlled right from the start, but Regina stormed back to score six times in what could have been their last at-bat of the season and then held on to defeat the Gulls 10-7 in what was a wild Game 2 of the WCBL final.
After winning in 11 innings in Game 1, Sylvan Lake stormed out of the gate getting to Regina starter Landon Riley as they scored five runs in the first three innings to take early control, but the Red Sox slowly picked away at that lead going into a 9th inning that will go down in Red Sox history as one of their most dramatic.
With a light rain falling and the Gulls crowd expecting their team to be awarded the title, the Red Sox found themselves down to their last out with a man on second with Sylvan Lake closer Mickey McClaskey on the hill. Justin Simard beat out an infield single that allowed both Sam Baker and Jory Graves to cross home plate to tie the game. Jordan Tucker then drew a walk with Rafael Jackson bringing both Simard and Tucker home with a single to right that was misplayed by Simon Baker to give Regina the lead. Regina then padded that lead from two to four as Zayd Brannigan stepped up and clobbered a McClaskey pitch over the fence to complete the rally and put the pressure on a Gulls team that didn’t think they would have to bat in the bottom of the 9th. Brannigan was the offensive star for Regina on the night as he went five for six at the plate with that homer and 3 RBIs. Jackson also had a huge night at the plate going four for six.
Sylvan Lake would not go down without a fight as the Gulls loaded the bases forcing Regina to bring in Vittorio Iacobucci to close it out. After hitting Matty Fung to force in a run, Iacobucci slammed the door on any rally for Sylvan Lake by striking out both Baker and Kyle Lewis to end the game and set up a one-game winner take all showdown.
That 3rd game will go Saturday night in Sylvan Lake starting at 7 o’clock Regina time. A Regina win would be their first league title since the 2012 season.
