Season Opener Provides No Closure

The Optimist Junior league kicked off the 2018 season in Moose Jaw on Saturday evening with the Regina Angels facing the Regals at Ross Wells Park. Chris Cooper took to the mound to defend home turf while the Angels countered with Noah Kaytor. The Regina squad of nine players opened the game with a run manufactured by a bloop to right, stretched into a double by the speedy Austin Dundas, who was bumped over to third by Brandon Metz and batted in by Jake Hesselink. All that detail to describe the lone run scored by the visiting side. The Regals would counter with two runs in the bottom of the first and then four more in a disastrous second. Hard-hit balls were hard to come by for both teams, so the majority of runs were scored due to a series of bloopers, squibblers, goofs and gaffs. The result were: starter Kaytor retired after the second inning, as a pitch count precaution; Jacob Lipp producing a stellar 3 2/3 innings of relief; Jaxon Blaus inducing the final out of the game; and the Angels returning to the Queen City wondering about the season ahead.