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Unity wins first ever NSRBL title

Aug 4, 2017 | 9:53 AM

The stage was set on Thursday night as the two top pitchers in the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League went head-to-head with a championship on the line.

It was the decisive third game of the league finals, with regular season MVP Jared Coghill from the Border City Blue Jays going up against Rhett Feser from the Unity Cardinals.

Both pitchers had a phenomenal season, finishing first and second in ERA, and first and second in wins.

Although each went the full seven innings, it was only Feser who recorded a shutout and would be named a 2017 league champion.

“This has been a hell of a time,” Feser said after taking the championship team photo. “It’s good to come home with a trophy and do it for Unity.”

The 5-0 score secured Unity’s first ever NSRBL title.

Feser not only got the shutout, but also gave up no walks.

“This is nice to be a part of, real nice,” he said. “Eighteen years coming.

“Everybody came together and got timely hits. Everybody came together and played baseball.”

Feser said those timely hits were the difference between this season and years past.

“We all came together to get hits at the right time. We used to just piece together hits,” he said. “We came together and made baseball games happen and won a lot of games and came away with the trophy.”

The Cardinals went 10-4 in the regular season, while giving up a league-low 36 runs in 14 games. They beat North Battleford and Standard Hill in separate playoff series on their path to the league finals.

Feser got the win in game one of the finals, a 4-2 score, but the Jays rebounded with a gutsy 5-4 win in game two on Wednesday, leading to Thursday’s showdown.

Both teams’ seasons aren’t quite done, as provincials are on the horizon.

Unity is hosting the tier III championships next weekend, while the Blue Jays will head to Yorkton for the tier II championships the same weekend.

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11