The South Okanagan Minor Baseball Association Thunder peewee season is over.
The Thunder lost 11-10 to the Kelowna Cubs in the top of the 7th inning of their final zone championship game to finish with two wins and two losses.
“The kids played their heart out. It’s been a lot of fun,” said Thunder coach Allen Wilson.
Trailing 10-6 going into the bottom of the sixth inning at Kiwanis Field in Penticton, the Thunder took advantage of key hits, timely steals and some fielding errors to even the game at 10. The Thunder lost on an aggressive throw to home plate that didn’t work out. They also got into a bit of trouble by loading the bases with none out.
“We got aggressive. We are OK with being aggressive,” said Wilson. “We just didn’t make a good throw at the end.”
The Thunder never gave up and as Wilson said, “It’s not over until it’s over.”
“These guys knew that it was going to be a close game. Talking to the (Kelowna) coaches previously, it was going to be a tight battle. We were evenly matched,” said Wilson. “Our team finally came together as a team. We have always promoted that this is a family. We all enjoy playing baseball.”
Miguel Monteiro of the Thunder said both teams played pretty good. He was happy with the comeback effort the Thunder made.
“I’m glad to see the team come together. Make the plays, do what we have to do to win,” he said. “I think everyone did have a great season. We played hard, we did our best. We had fun and that’s all the matters.”
The Thunder opened the zone championship by defeating West Kelowna 16-13. The Thunder lost to eventual zone champs Kamloops 16-0 on Friday night. On Saturday they defeated Rutland 25-24.
Bantam Tigers winless in zones
The SOMBA Tigers lost all three of their games in Vernon in the regional championships last weekend. Among their losses was a 17-13 defeat to Rutland, who will represent the zone in the provincial championship.
“We didn’t play that bad,” said coach Aqil Samuel. “I thought we played alright. We just didn’t get the bounces and stuff we needed. We had a chance to win all three games, just couldn’t find a way to do it. It wasn’t for a lack of effort that’s for sure.”
The South Okanagan Tigers, Monty Tebutt dives back to first base before Salmon Arm's Logan Reynolds can tag him out during a round robin game in the zone championships at Blackburn Park on Saturday, July 25.