Hawks sweep defending champs in final

The Whitefish Lake Hawks won the High Prairie Men’s Fastball League title Aug. 14 after defeating the Grouard 86’ers 7-4 in High Prairie. Back row, left-right, are Richard Laboucan, Dalton Tallman, Lyle Halcrow, Ernie Payou, Desmond Laderoute, Allan “Junior” Anderson, Caleb Auger, Clark Laderoute, Raymond Cunningham and Steven Cunningham. Front row, left-right, are Burton Auger, Dave Lamouche Jr., Brandon Payou, Joshua Auger, Conrad Laboucan and Dalin Thunder-Flett.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

For the first time in history, a team from Whitefish Lake has won the High Prairie Men’s Fastball League title. The Whitefish Lake Hawks rode the strong pitching performance of Burton Auger to a 7-4 win at High Prairie’s Jaycee Park Aug. 14 to win the league title in three straight games over the three-time defending league champion Grouard 86’ers. Auger struck out 12 batters and gave up only one earned run in pitching a masterful performance. Auger recorded the win in all three games: 13-8 in the opener and 12-7 in the second game. Junior Anderson blasted a two run home run in the first inning to give the Hawks the lead in the deciding game. Desmond Laderoute led off the game with a double before Anderson’s blast. Anderson would be named playoff MVP by the league executive after the game based on a strong hitting and fielding performance during the series. The 86’ers took the lead with three unearned runs in the third inning. Mike Henkel reached on an error, then Brydon Giroux laid down a perfect bunt single. Rollie Gladue then loaded the bases with one out. Burton Auger then beared down and stuck out Randy Courtoreille and Peter Keay but an error on Travis Cunningham’s grounder to second base scored Henkel. Bruce Cunningham then singled scoring two runs and the 86’ers had a 3-2 lead. The Hawks regained the lead in the fifth inning. Laderoute reached on an error, then stole second. He score on Anderson’s RBI single. Anderson proceeded to steal second and scored on Auger’s one-out RBI single. The Hawks put the game away in the seventh. Anderson and Dave Lamouche hit one-out singles. Anderson scored later on wild pitch. In the meantime, Auger reached on a walk and scampered around the bases with Lamouche on Steven Cunningham’s RBI double, which scored two runs to give the Hawks a 7-3 lead. Gladue’s two-out home run in the seventh inning was the final run of the game; however, the 86’ers did mount one last rally. Courtoreille then singled and Peter Keay walked to bring the potential tieing run to the plate in Travis Cunningham. However, he struck out and the Hawks celebrated their first title. Auger was the winning pitcher going the distance. He struck out 12 and walked only one batter. Of the four runs surrendered on six hits, only one was earned. Huckle Giroux took the loss also going the distance. He gave up seven runs, five earned, on 11 hits. He stuck out four and walked two. The second game of the final was played Aug. 12 at Whitefish. A seven-run fifth inning broke a 5-5 tie and the Hawks rolled to victory. The 86’ers scored three runs in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Travis Cunningham’s RBI single in the first inning scored Courtoreille, who tripled with one out. In the second inning, the Hawks booted the ball around like a hot potato. They committed three errors which led to three unearned runs. Ralphie Courtorielle and Henkel both reached on errors before Gladue’s two-out blast cleared the bases. The Hawks began to climb back into the game in the second. Dalton Tallman singled, was sacrificed to second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a second wild pitch. In the third inning, Steven Cunningham was hit by a pitch before Auger’s two-run home run pulled the Hawks to within 4-3. The Hawks took the lead in the fourth inning. Dave Lamouche Jr. walked with one out and scored on Anderson’s home run. However, Travis Cunningham tied the score 5-5 in the fifth inning with a long home run that must have landed 40 feet beyond the left-centre fence. With the game hanging in the balance, however, the 86’ers fell apart in the fifth. Ralphie Courtoreille came into pitch after Randy Courtoreille went four inning and was tiring. The 86’ers proceeded to commit three errors which led to seven Hawks runs and the game was over. The inning was highlighted by Josh Auger’s triple, which scored two, and RBI doubles off the bats of Anderson and Steven Cunningham. In the seventh inning , the 86’s did score twice to make game a little closer. Bruce Cunningham led off with a double, then scored on Travis Cunningham’s double. Peter Keay’s RBI single scored Travis Cunningham. The league executive chose Junior Anderson as the playoff MVP after the final concluded. His timely hitting and defensive play was cited as the reason. Anderson had two RBIS and scored two runs in the opening game. In the second game, he walked, hit a two-run home run and an RBI double giving him three RBIs and two runs scored. In the deciding game, Anderson scored three runs. He hit a home run, singled twice and had three more RBIs. Overall, he was seven for 11 in the series with a walk with eight RBIs and seven runs scored.

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