Kamloops Blazers Win Westerns

BC teams finish 1-2-3

The Kamloops Sandman Inn Blazers hosted the 2009 Masters Westerns August 6-9 at Charles Anderson Stadium and put forth an effort and result that will linger for a long time in many local fans that experienced a great weekend of high level Fastball.  The tournament was blessed by great weather all weekend with two of the four days hovering in the 29 - 30 degree heat.

The Teams that competed this year were the North West Territories, Alberta #1, Alberta #2, Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, Ladner, Kelowna Andres, Desert Cove Arrows, and Kamloops. 

The Blazers got off to a 5-0 start in Round Robin play with wins over NWT (7-3), Alberta #2 (9-1), DC Arrows (5-0) on the opening day (Wednesday).  On Thursday Kamloops came out strong again with wins over Ladner (6-4) and Alberta #2 (5-3) and both of those games were tight and hard fought against very good teams that would qualify for the Playoff round as the #3 and #4 seeds. 

With one of the top 2 seeds clinched come Saturday morning, Kamloops came out flat and rested Rich Haldane and Keith Green the dynamic duo who had as much to do with the Gold Medal run for this team as anyone.  A very good hitting Saskatchewan team took apart the Blazers 8-0 in 5 innings which set the stage for an Andres (5-1) and Kamloops (5-1) Semifinal game with the winner going straight to the final.

Andres behind big Darren Zack and a potent offense got the better of Kamloops and Haldane, who had been lights out up until that point.  Ladner found themselves down 5-1 midway through their Playoff game versus Alberta #1 (for the right to play Kamloops to get to the Final versus Andres) but Robbie Johnston came in to shut the door the rest of the way and some clutch hitting from a very good club proved to be too much for the Alberta team.

On Sunday morning at 11 am on the main diamond Ladner and Kamloops went at it again for the second time in 24 hours and both Dean Webster and Rich Haldane went 9 innings in a very intense hard fought game with the Blazers coming out on top, 6-5.

With Andres rested and waiting for a tired Kamloops squad many at the park including some who were very close to the Blazers, wondered to themselves how the team would manage to come back at Andres with Zack ready to go and a line up who had faced Haldane so many times over the years! 

Kamloops were the visitors by virtue of Kelowna winning the right to go straight to the final and Haldane set the tone early with a 2 run line shot over the right field fence in the top of the first on his way to a 4for4 game.  Andres clawed back to make the score 3-3 in the fifth inning, setting the stage for Greg Cave who hit a 2 run opposite field double in his first at bat of the game giving the Blazers a 5-3 victory.

In the end, this was a magical weekend from a group of guys who played well together with everyone contributing at key times with clutch hitting and timely defense.  The team was missing 3 key players in Scott Austin, Kevin Careless and Gerry Kennedy yet rallied behind their leader, Haldane and his favorite catcher of all time - Keith Green, who was on base all weekend.

Haldane's gutsy weekend (7-1, 1.45 ERA) would net him both the Top Pitcher and MVP honors.

This was a tournament that local fans won't forget and a big shout out should go to Ken Ward (Blazers) who organized and oversaw this well run event.