Hawks to face Rangers in semi-final

Pitcher Burton Auger tossed two wins in the Whitefish Lake Hawks sweep of the Gift Lake Juniors July 8-9.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

In the end, experience won over youth. The experienced and talent-laden Whitefish Lake Hawks advanced to the High Prairie Men’s Fastball League semi-finals July 9 after whipping the Gift Lake Juniors 23-4. The win gave the Hawks a two-game sweep of the series. They won the first game 7-3 July 8. The Hawks now face the first place Peavine Rangers in a best-of-five semi-final slated to start July 15 in Peavine. The opener of the series was supposed to be played in Whitefish July 8 but a rainstorm the night before forced the game to be played in nearby Gift Lake. Whitefish used the diamond as their home field for the game. The Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Desmond Laderoute singled, went to second on a flyout and third on a groundout. He scored on a pass ball. Meanwhile, Dave Lamouche was also rounding the bases. He walked with two out, advanced to third on a single and scored on an error. Michael Lamouche’s RBI groundout scored Lenny L’Hirondelle in the second inning as the Juniors fought back. However, Desmond Laderoute’s RBI single scored Dustin Belcourt to restore the Hawks two-run lead in their half of the second. The Juniors scored one in the third when Hector Lamouche Jr. scored on an error but it would as close as they would get. The Hawks scored three in the fourth to put the game away. Ray Cunningham and Dustin Belcourt both scored on a crucial throwing error to pitcher Charles Laboucan, who was attempting to nail Cunningham while trying to score from third. Later in the inning, Dalton Tallman doubled and scored on Dave Lamouche Junior’s RBI single. The Hawks made it 7-2 in the fifth on Ray Cunningham’s solo blast. The Juniors added their final run in the sixth when Lenny L’Hirondelle scored an a double play groundout off the bat of Michael Lamouche. Burton Auger went the distance and picked up the win while Charles Laboucan, who also went the distance, suffered the loss. The Hawks outhit the Juniors 12-7 and left eight runners on base compared to the Junior’s seven. The big difference was the Juniors committed three errors to the Hawks one. Those three errors led to four unearned run. The single error committed by the Hawks led to one unearned run. The second game of the series was no contest. The Hawks blew open the game by scoring seven runs in the third inning to take a 9-1 lead. They would add six runs in the fourth and five in the fifth to lead 20-1. The Hawks now prepare for the Rangers in the semi-finals. The first game is at Peavine July 15. The second game goes at Whitefish July 17, the third game back in Peavine July 22. If necessary, the fourth game is in Whitefish July 24 and the fifth game in Peavine July 29. The Rangers swept the Hawks in two close games this season. The Rangers won 5-4 at home June 11 and 6-5 in Whitefish to close the regular season July 3.

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