Published: Monday, July 28, 2008

Aspen 7, D-backs 0 (6 ings.)

The Saskatoon Aspen Interiors emerged from the weekend's provincialsoftball championship with nary a scratch on them.

Big bats and dominant pitching propelled Aspen to the men's senior Atitle Sunday at Gordie Howe Park.

 

"Theirpitching is very strong and Dean Holoien cracked two home runs in twogames," Bryan Kosteroski, coach of the Saskatoon Poly PlusDiamondbacks, said after his team fell 7-0 to Aspen in the final. "He'sprobably one of the top players in North America and he showed thatover the weekend."

Holoien sparked Sunday's rout when he launcheda three-run blast off Ryan Brand in the bottom of the first inning.Aspen methodically piled up runs and the mercy rule kicked in afterChad Hanson's two-run single in the sixth.

"Starting (Saturday)night and then again (Sunday), we were able to come up with that bighit," said Aspen pitcher Trevor Ethier, who scattered two hits andwalked none. "Dean's three-run home run early on set the table for usand we were able to build on that."

With three weekend victories, Aspen improved to 28-2 in tournamentplay this season.

"It'snice to keep the ball rolling," said Holoien. "We've been playingreally well all year and we didn't want to change anything coming intothe weekend."

Aspen opened with a win over the Bruno Merchantsand then clobbered the Diamondbacks 7-0 Saturday night in the finalgame of the round robin. All three teams had already qualified for theCanadian championship, which will be held here Aug. 24 to 31. Bywinning provincials, Aspen gets first choice of player pick-ups fornationals.

"We've played pretty consistent and we were able toshow everyone in Saskatoon how we're capable of playing," said Ethier."Now we're looking forward to bigger and better things at the end ofAugust."

Ethier heads to Kamloops this weekend to participate inthe Canadian Native nationals, while eight of his teammates willcombine with a Florida squad to compete at the Amateur SoftballAssociation of America championship in Stevens Point, Wisc.

BothAspen and the Diamondbacks will compete at the International SoftballCongress World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisc., from Aug. 10 to 16. Thefollowing weekend, action shifts back to Saskatoon for nationals.

"We'regoing to have three strong Saskatchewan teams for nationals," saidKosteroski. "We'll have 10 teams coming in and they're all going to beloaded."