A grand beginning has the Dawgs one win away from a return to the league finals.
Okotoks Dawgs outfielder Alejandro Cazorla hit a first inning grand slam to kickstart a 10-5 victory over the Sylvan Lake Gulls Friday night at Seaman Stadium to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three WCBL West Division Final.
“We knew they were going to come in hungry,” Cazorla said. “There’s no lie to anyone that there’s been a bit of a rivalry building for a little bit, especially with the way the series ended last year.
“We knew tensions were going to be high.”
A barnburner first inning set the stage for a night of round trippers.
Gulls first baseman Tyler McWillie, a Dawgs Academy alumnus, opened the scoring with a no doubter solo home run to dead centre. The Gulls tacked on another on a double steal play.
Okotoks answered back and then some in the bottom of the inning.
Cazorla cleared the bases with a grand slam to centre field to put Okotoks in front with one swing of the bat.
“We came in the dugout and brought it back in,” Cazorla said. “Luth (Brendan Luther) put up a good at-bat, a couple of the other boys got on to get the bases loaded and at the end of the day you’ve just got to trust everything you work on at that point.
“He hung a little slider, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”
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The Dawgs stayed on the sticks in the second and added to their lead again through the big fly.
Eric Machej’s double was followed up by a two-run shot over the right field wall from Luther to make it a 6-2 advantage.
In the fourth, Connor Crowson added an RBI single with a balk to Gulls pitcher Hagen Barcello to follow. In the fifth, Ricardo Sanchez and Trent Lenihan delivered RBI knocks to get Okotoks to double digits.
Dawgs starter Brock Townsend went five innings, allowing three runs and got out of a bases loaded, two outs jam in the fifth to preserve a five-run advantage.
Both Okotoks and Sylvan Lake swept their way through first-round series over the Fort McMurray Giants and Lethbridge Bulls, respectively.
The Dawgs and Gulls duked it out all season for top spot in the West with Okotoks taking the 7-3 edge in the season series. Okotoks won last year’s division final over Sylvan Lake in two games en route to the 2022 championship.
The West Final continues Saturday in Sylvan Lake at 7 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 is Sunday, Aug. 13, a 7:05 p.m. start at Seaman Stadium.
For more information, visit dawgsbaseball.ca.
