Published July 13, 2009
LOCAL SPORTS
Goldpanners go 3-for-3 Sunday to win KIBT
By MARK
HUNTER Daily News Sports Reporter
It was a good thing the Alaska-Midnight Sun Goldpanners had more arms
than the North Korean Army on Sunday.
The Goldpanners won three games on the final day of the Kamloops
International Baseball Tournament. The last one was a 5-3 victory
over the Everett Merchants in front of 350 fans at NorBrock Stadium
in the final, securing the team’s sixth KIBT title.
The Goldpanners won the first five editions of KIBT, from
1973-77.
Midnight Sun started the day with a 13-3 victory over the Kelowna
Jays, before beating the three-time defending-champion Seattle Studs
2-1 in a semifinal.
Goldpanners manager Jim Dietz used six different pitchers in the
final game, with none going more than two innings.
“We’ve been out here all day, since about eight in the morning,”
Dietz said. “We could only throw our pitchers a couple of innings —
I was really proud of them. They were just awesome.”
The Merchants had the easiest road to the final, beating the Red
Deer Riggers 3-0 on Friday, before topping the Jays 4-3 and the
Studs 2-1 on Saturday.
It was the second year in a row they have been beaten by a
back-door team in the final — last year, the Seattle Studs came back
and eliminated the Merchants.
“You’ve got to hand it to them — they’ve won three times today,”
said Everett manager Harold Pyatte. “It’s a bittersweet loss but I’m
proud with our guys. (The Goldpanners) displayed good pitching,
timely hitting and they ended up on top.”
Everett struck first in the final, with Jake Hammons drawing a
bases-loaded walk in the second inning off starter Cameron
Christian. Zak Miller drove in a run with a single off Brian Buckham
in the fifth inning to make it 2-0 for the Merchants.
Alaska came back with four runs in the sixth inning. Phil Parrish
and Trent Olezszchuk hit singles to start the inning, before Josh
Ashenbrenner brought them in with a double. Ashenbrenner came around
to score on an error, before Mykal Stokes drove in a run to make it
4-2.
Everett loaded the bases in the eighth inning, and scored a run,
but Alaska pitcher Derek Speigner got Aaron West to pop out to
shallow right field to end the threat.
“We had our opportunities,” Pyatte said. “That flare to right
field almost fell — it would have given us the lead, but it didn’t
drop.”
After Alaska scored a run in the top of the ninth, Everett had
another chance in the bottom half, getting the first two runners on.
But reliever Carey Schwartz got Nick Meehan on a sacrifice bunt,
Ryan Bean on a pop-up and Evan Churlan on a groundout to Olezszchuk
at shortstop.
The exciting final, which managed to please the crowd, even had
the Goldpanners’ manager worried at times.
“I was worried before the game started,” Dietz said. “I didn’t
know what to expect. I was tickled for the players and everyone.”
FOUL BALLS: Buckham was the winning pitcher. . . . Alaska also
used Anthony Burke and Elliot VanGaver in the final. . . . Tyler
Rice started for the Merchants, allowing four runs — three earned —
in six innings. . . . Alex Brueske pitched the final three innings,
allowing two hits and a run. . . . Ashenbrenner had three RBI in the
victory. . . . Everett only had five hits in the game, two of them
off the bat of Chad Dias, who was the 2008 MVP while with the Studs.
. . . Because it made it to the second semifinal, Seattle finishes
third, and gets $3,000.
