Warhawks prepped for the big show

The Kahnawake Warhawks baseball teams are capping off their regular season with the Lac St. Louis regionals.

The U15B girls Warhawks are off to the finals Sunday at 4:30 p.m. against the Pierrefonds Expos White, a team they tied 14-14 during the round robin portion earlier this week.

Both teams also met four times in the regular season, with each team winning twice.

“We’re pretty well matched up,” said Roddy Meloche, head coach of the U15B girls.

In that 14-14 tie, the Expos were ahead by three runs before the fifth and last inning, but the Warhawks tied things up and had a chance to win with a runner in scoring position.

But, it was not meant to be, as the runner got caught in a rundown between third and home.

“She ended up hurting her leg because she tripped and she got tagged out, and that was the game over,” said Meloche.

That tie placed the Warhawks in second place, behind Pierrefonds, who received the bye to the finals.

That meant having to face the NDG Bobcats on Tuesday to determine Pierrefonds’ opponent on Sunday.

The Warhawks had previously played the Bobcats in the round robin portion on August 16, defeating them 29-12 - although Meloche said the game was much closer than the final score would suggest, with the Warhawks scoring 16 runs in the final, open inning.

Kahnawake walked many Bobcats to give them the early lead, but once a pitching change was done, walks turned into outs.

Kahnawake was down a few runs before the open inning, but they soon found themselves blowing the game wide open in the top of the fifth inning.

“We just kept going up to bat over and over and over again,” said Meloche.

The bottom of the fifth was as clinical an inning as they come, sealing the Warhawks’ victory.

That would describe the semifinals game as well, with Kahnawake coming out on top 14-7 in a game they never trailed.

Meloche said it was Kate Montour who got things rolling for the team with a home run, setting the tone for the game.

Many of the girls are playing at the U15 level for the first time. Meloche and nine of the 13 players to open the season were a part of the U13 girls Warhawks team that made it to provincials last year.

“It’s a big difference. The transition took a bit to get used to,” said Meloche.

Those differences include being able to take bigger leads, the bases being further apart, and playing on the field near the Sports Complex instead of the Hospital field.

“I think we had six practices before an actual game, just to try to get everyone ready,” said Meloche.

Many of them have played together since U9, which meant not much ice breaking was necessary, Meloche said.

He’s hoping that their strong playoffs will continue after Sunday’s game.

“When they’re all on their game, they’re unstoppable,” said Meloche.

The U18B mixed team saw their regionals end last night, following a 6-5 loss to the Presqu’ile Pirates Grey in their first elimination game, finishing a perfect 2-0 in the round robin portion.

They had a chance to win the game in the last open inning, after the Pirates took a late lead in a back-and-forth game.

“We had bases loaded, no outs, and we just got one out, two outs, three outs. And that was it. The game was over,” said U18B coach Jesse Lahache.

The Warhawks found themselves in an early hole in that game due to them having lost their friendship point in their previous game, a 13-5 win against the Presqu’ile Pirates Yellow, causing the Pirates Grey to start the game with a runner on first and second.

When he received news of that, Lahache was very confused - he did not know what incident they could have been referring to.

He only found out late that the incident in question was a parent getting close to the scorekeeper to take videos. Getting close to an official is not permitted by the Lac St. Louis rules, even in that situation.

“They told her she had to move, and then she just started calling the official down,” said Lahache.

“During the game, nothing happened. This was outside of the game, and it cost us.”

Still, he is pleased with this season, coaching a team made up of many younger players for U18.

He said the players adapted well, and he even had multiple over the fence home run hitters – Shakonikonhrawis Diabo Tahaniehtonha:wa Mayo-Nolan, Khage McComber, and Jersey Jacobs, who hit his in the deciding regionals game.

One more team, the U9B Warhawks girls, will have played a regionals game on Thursday after The Eastern Door’s publishing deadline against the NDG Bobcats to determine who will move on to the finals.

All other Warhawks teams participating in regionals - the two U9B mixed teams, the U11B team, and the U13B team - did not make it to the elimination rounds.

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