Still smoking from placing second at the long weekend's Doug Conn Memorial Tournament in Victoria, the Howe Sound Cannons split a scorching doubleheader with the Brewers at Laroy Watt Field on Saturday (May 24).Right-hander Jeremy Galley took to the mound in the first game despite little rest from pitching close to half of the tournament's six games, including the final against the Nanaimo Coal Miners, where he gave up just one run in the last inning for a 1-0 loss."Jer is just a dominating presence," said teammate David Jones of the Howe Sound Secondary grad who also pitches for Douglas College.The Cannons fell behind early but kept the score close throughout the first game. Still, they ended up losing 6-5.In the second game, top of the sixth inning, the score was tied 4-4 with Justin Krazanowski on the mound - the game's fourth pitcher because the team's artillery was worn out from the tournament before. He helped the Cannons take out the first three batters with a strikeout, a short pop-out, and a harmless ground-out.That's when the Cannons' wicks sparked.Heavy slugger Tor Purvis and Kevin Mackie earned walks before Galley knocked a single to score Purvis.The Brewers pitcher continued to have trouble controlling the ball, and Mackie scooted in for a run off a loose pitch to make the score 6-4 Cannons.Jon Vanzella and Jones earned two walks before Bre Lawrence, Krazanowski and Anthony Hughson hit singles to make the game 10-4.Krazanowski ensured there was no rally a-brewing by striking out the first batter and pitching ground balls easily handled by Galley at shortstop. Coach Jarret Babuin said the Cannons started letting the pitching work for them in the game's latter half. "We have enough talent at the plate; we just needed to start seeing the ball and I think once people started getting patient up there and started seeing pitches then you start to hit," he said. "And that's what happened - we just started to see the guy and find holes."Howe Sound sits in first place in the North Shore Men's Baseball Association with four wins and two losses.However, it was the Doug Conn Memorial Tournament that was the true test for the young team early in the season. Not only was it the team's first out-of-league tourney, the competition was mainly from the B.C. Premier League, which is like Rep to the NSMBA's House, said Babuin. The Cannons blasted through the round-robin with three wins and two losses before losing to the undefeated Western Canadian Champion Nanaimo Coal Miners in the Monday (May 19) final."It was a really strong showing by our team," said Babuin. "We played well defensively and hit the ball well. It was a good team in the final so it was hard to hit the ball against them." The Cannons again open fire against the Brewers at North Vancouver's Parkgate South field on Saturday (May 31).
