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Beavers eliminated in NSRBL playoffs

Jul 22, 2016 | 10:24 AM

A first round exit punctuated the end of an up and down season for the North Battleford Beavers.

The 7-9 Beavers were the eighth seed in the 2016 NSRBL season and drew the top seeded 13-3 Lloydminster Twins in the first round. The Twins took the series in two games, ending the Beavers season.

Beavers’ player-manager Rory Gregoire said it’s never a good thing to lose in the playoffs when there are still games going on.

“I mean I think the way our season went, we had some ups and downs. I think our pitching was a lower point of our season and we got fortunate enough at the end of the year to sneak ourselves into playoffs,” Gregoire said.

Gregoire said the game one loss to the Twins was a close game however the Beavers gave up unearned runs, giving the Twins the 6-1 win.

In game two, Gregoire said it was an exciting game with the Beavers down only 5-3 late in the game until “the wheels fell off” and the Twins pulled away with a 12-3 win.

Gregoire pointed to a 7-3 home win over Wilkie and an offensive explosion in a comeback win as memorable moments in the season.

“We went to St. Walburg one night and we were down, I want to say we were down almost nine or 10 runs and we scored 12 runs in the seventh inning to make a comeback and win the game. So I think that there gave us a huge confidence boost just to know we had the hitting capacity to come back late in games,” Gregoire said.

Gregoire added pitching will be the main focus for the Beavers in the offseason.

 

Matt Kelly is battlefordsNOW’s town municipal affairs and community reporter. He can be reached at mkelly@jpbg.ca.