Calgary Cobras defeated the Grande Prairie Pride 8-6 to take the Alberta Senior Open Provincial Title in Lloydminster Sunday July 16th. Both teams as well as third place finishers Camrose Fury have all played in the Canada West ISC Travel League.
The Cobras were undefeated and had to be beated twice in Sunday's Final after defeating # 2 ranked Camrose 7-4 in the Page System playoffs. With Camrose leading 4-2 after 5 the Cobras exploded for 3 runs in the top of the 6th and 2 in the top of th 7th with Home Runs from Brendan Connolly, Ivan Kronlund and Trevor MacKinnon.
In the Championship game Calgary jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after 3 innings on a HR by Kelly Spence and quickly followed up with 2 more runs in the top of the 4th inning to take a 3-0 lead with back to back RBI singles from Colin Newton and Roger Connolly. In the bottom of the 4th Grande Prairie scored 6 runs with RBI singles from Curtis Ames, Cory Kinnon, Trvor Aldred, Travis Head and a 2 RBI Double from Shayne Milligan.
With Grande Prairie leading 6-3 after 4, the Cobras cratched back a run in the top of the 5th with a solo HR from Brendan Connolly. In the top of the 7th inning the Cobras lead off with Brendan Connolly reaching first base on a ball hit sharply off Pitcher Ryan Krebb's glove. Connolly advanced to 2nd on a ground out by Ivan Kronlund. Scott Smith and Trevor MacKinnon earned walks to load the bases. After a strike out Colin Newton hit a 2 out Grand Slam to put the Cobras in the lead 8-6 which they never relinquished. Trevor McCabe took the win in relief of Brendan Connolly in the 4th inning.
This was the second consecutive Provincial Title for the Cobras in their 2 year history. They defeated Grande Prairie in the finals for a second consecutive year.
Cobras Round Robin games:
Calgary Rangers 9 ----------- HR's ( Nick Vasilakoss, Jeff Graham, Adam Thomas)
Calgary Cobras 11 ----------- HR's ( Brendan Connolly, Ivan Kronlund with 2, Trevor MacKinnon)
WP Trevor McCabe, LP Dwayne Singer
Calgary Cobras 10 --------HR's (Garth Gazdewich, Trevor MacKinnon, Roger Connolly)
Rollyview Vortec 4---------HR's (Dale Wagner)
WP Brendan Connolly, LP Kelly Kerik
Lloydminster Dodgers 5
Calgary Cobras 7----------HR's (Trevor MacKinnon, Garth Gazdewich)
WP Trevor McCabe with Save by Brendan Connolly, LP Kyle Braithwaite
Grande Prairie Pride 2--------HR's ( Cory Kinnon, Todd Aldred)
Calgary Cobras 12------HR's (Kelly Spence with 2, Trevor MacKinnon with 2, Scott Adams)
WP Brendan Connolly, LP Ryan Krebbs
Page Playoff
Calgary Cobras 7--------- HR's (Brendan Connolly, Ivan Kronlund, Trevor MacKinnon, Scott Smith)
Camrose Fury 4 ---------HR's (Scott Galenza)
WP Brendan Connolly, LP Scott Galenza
Championship Game
Grande Prairie Pride 6
Calgary Cobras 8----------HR's ( Kelly Spence, Brendan Connolly, Colin Newton)
WP Trevor McCabe, LP Ryan Krebbs