It was, said Vernon baseball player Brennan Braddick, the speediest run of his life.
He wasn't talking about going from first base to home to score a game-winning run.
Braddick was referring to the run from the bullpen, beyond the left-field fence, to the team dog pile going on behind the mound after his Okanagan College Coyotes won their fourth Canadian College Baseball Conference World Series title with a 10-9 barnburner against regional rivals Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of Kamloops.
The championship tournament was played May 15-18 at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge.
Braddick, 19, is a second-year relief pitcher with the Coyotes, who watched the unfolding drama with his fellow chuckers.
"We were out in the bullpen, and they had scored a pair of runs to pull to within one, so it was tense," said Braddick. "But our pitcher got the last guy to ground out to the shortstop. As soon as the first baseman caught the throw, the gate from the bullpen opened, and we all ran so fast to join in. It was definitely, 100 per cent, the fastest I've ever run."
Okanagan College jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the final in the bottom of the first inning, then stretched the margin to 6-0 after five. The WolfPack got a run back in the top of the sixth but the 'Yotes responded with a pair in the bottom of the inning for what seemed a comfortable 8-1 lead.
Cue the TRU comeback.
Thompson Rivers scored six times in the top of the seventh, and were only a run down before OC added two in the bottom of the eighth, setting the stage for the dramatic top of the ninth.
Grindrod's Riley Hay is a second-year outfielder with TRU. The WolfPack centre fielder was 1-5 at the plate in the final, driving in a pair of runs with a triple, and scoring once.
The defending CCBC World Series champion University of the Fraser Valley Cascades from Abbotsford finished atop the eight-team league with a 21-11 regular-season record, a game-and-a-half ahead of Okanagan College, the team the Cascades beat for the 2024 World Series title.
TRU was fourth at 17-14.
The Coyotes entered the Canadian tournament having won eight of its last 10 games, including the final three straight. They never lost in Lethbridge.
Okanagan College began the World Series with a 15-5 romp over the Edmonton Collegiate Hawks. Braddick threw one inning of relief, striking out one and not allowing a hit while throwing only seven pitches to get three outs. Six of the seven pitches were strikes.
The 91大黄鸭-based Coyotes defeated the Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo 5-2 (Braddick did not play) to advance to the semifinal, where they edged the host Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs of Lethbridge 7-6. Braddick came out of the pen to record the last out of the eighth inning, and got the save in the ninth, despite giving up a two-run home run.
"We definitely got hot at the right time of the year," said Braddick, studying carpentry at Okanagan College, and spending the summer doing framing work for Heartwood Homes. "This team is very close. Guys would get together every other weekend and just hang out."
During the regular season, the hard-throwing right-hander went 2-0 while appearing in eight games, tossing 11 and two-thirds innings. Braddick recorded nine strikeouts, walked 10 batters, and gave up only seven hits, three of which came in his longest appearance of the year, two-and-two-thirds innings, in a 6-5 loss against Thompson Rivers.
He'll spend the summer working, going to the gym, and playing recreational men's league baseball. Braddick has two years remaining at OC.
"My mom and dad (Monica and Dan), I owe them a lot," said Braddick. "They're the ones that pushed me to go to college and play the game I love. It's been a great decision."
Hay and the WolfPack opened the double-knockout tournament in Lethbridge by beating the Victoria Collegiate Golden Tide 6-4, then improved to 2-0 with an 11-0 romp over the Cascades in what would be the first of three consecutive games against the Abbotsford squad.
After UFV eliminated the Calgary Dinos 13-8, their offensive outburst continued with a 9-5 win over the WolfPack.
The two teams met in a semifinal, with Thompson Rivers pounding the Cascades 17-2 to advance to the championship against Okanagan College.
Hay finished the tournament 4-17 at the plate for a .235 average with three runs scored, two runs batted in, one stolen base, and one walk.
