Mallard's Team of the Week — Nelson Jays WK Jr. Babe Ruth Champs
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The hometown Blue Jays rode the complete game pitching of Bryce Sookro to defeat City rival Nelson Diamondbacks to capture the West Kootenay Junior Babe Ruth Baseball Title at Queen Elizabeth Park in Nelson.
Bryce Sookro was a rock on the mound for the Jays, while older brother Blair Sookro led the offence with a mammoth three-run homer over the right field bank onto Fifth Street.
“It’s a really competitive league with some strong teams, and it’s pretty awesome that it ended up Nelson vs. Nelson,” said Nelson Jays coach Cal Kooznetsoff.
“Our kids did a heck of a job in coming together as a team at the perfect time.”
The Jays, finishing second during the regular season, endured a hard-fought 4-3 battle with the Castlegar Warriors before lefty Michael Rhodes-Bliss pitched them into the finals with a complete game 12-2 win against the Trail Mariners.
The sixth seeded Nelson Diamondbacks defeated the Trail Pirates 8-4 on the back of a dominant pitching performance by Kelton Forte in the quarter final round, before upsetting the number one seeded Trail Jays in a 16-12 slugfest in the semi-finals.
Mallard’s Source for sports would like to salute the Jays as Team of the Week.
The squad includes, coaches Calvin Kooztnesoff and Jamie Bliss, players Michael Rhodes-Bliss, Blair Sookro, Kyle Zoobakoff, Dylan Mowery, Bryce Sookro, Drake Proctor, Christian Kooznetsoff, Liam Ingram, Brady Stocks, Connor Kooznetsoff and Super Fan Steve.
