The Cowichan Valley Mustangs AAA Bantams put another four games under their belt over the weekend in Port Alberni and Chemainus as they round mid-season play.
All games were lost, but the experience was invaluable, says coach Darren Rasmussen.
It all got started in the Alberni Valley against North Island on Saturday. Cowichan faced the excellent pitching of North Island’s Nolan Badovinac, who pitched the entire game. The final scores were 7-1 and 8-0 for North Island.
“They really went for the win,” Rasmussen said. “We played pretty well. We didn’t make a heck of a lot of errors, but we just did not hit the ball, that was our problem.”
The highlight of the weekend took place Sunday afternoon during a doubleheader against the Cloverdale Red Spurs. It was the seventh inning when Cowichan’s Rowan Siider knocked a home run out of the park.
“No one has ever hit a bantam home run out of there; he probably hit it 390 feet, which is the distance of a major-league place,” Rasmussen said.
“As it went out, this ball just carried and carried. It was an awesome hit.”
Solid hitting kept Cowichan in both games against Cloverdale, but the final scores were 11-6 and 18-11 for the Spurs.
“They were both pretty exciting games,” Rasmussen.
Cowichan’s next match will take place this Saturday in Victoria against the Black Eagles.
So far, the Bantams have managed to knock out two wins out of 26 games played — a 16-15 win over Kamloops on May 12 and a 7-3 victory over North Island May 26.
With 16 games left in the regular season, it will be touch and go whether the bantams will make playoffs this year.
“We would really have to get going and start winning some games,” Rasmussen said. “This weekend, we were really hoping to win at least two out of four.”
What is certain, however, is that the intense training they have undergone at local ball fields has been paying off.
“You can tell by the scores that we’re starting to get into the games more,” said Rasmussen. “The kids are getting better all the time.”