A Giants’ dynasty

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This article was published 20/08/2021 (1754 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dynasties don’t come around every day in the sporting world. But Elmwood has one on its hands.

On Aug. 16, the Elmwood Giants won their fourth consecutive Manitoba Junior Baseball League Championship, the club’s sixth title in the past eight years, after defeating the Pembina Valley Orioles 10-0 by mercy rule in five short innings at Koskie Field on Chalmers Avenue.

“The whole thing happened so quickly,” said Giants manager Ed Kulyk. “It was a blur.”

The first two innings of the championship match, which was the culmination of a double-knockout tournament featuring all seven teams to play in the MJBL this season, were scoreless. In the third, veteran Giants’ shortstop Owen Harms knocked a three-run home run out of Koskie Field.

“Then, they just kind of fell apart,” Kulyk said.

The Giants were up by six in the bottom of the fifth, when Garrett Graham hit another three-run home run to put the home team up 9-0. A dropped ball on a play at third allowed the winning run to cross home, ending the game by way of mercy rule.

To get to the final, Elmwood defeated Winnipeg South 8-0 on Aug. 14, then edged out the Orioles 9-8 on Aug. 15. Pembina Valley then had to play the Altona Bisons, winning 5-4 on the evening of Aug. 15 before playing Elmwood again in the final on Aug. 16.

The championship was the icing on the cake of a nearly perfect season, where the Giants went 16-1-1, fielding almost the same roster as the 2020 championship squad.

“It was so much fun, this year,” Kulyk said. “These kids are really special. To see them celebrate that and have some fun, to see them bond, it’s special.”

Key to the Giants’ success, Kulyk said, is a strong belief in and commitment from the group.

“We’d practise every Saturday morning,” he said. “Everyone showed up, everyone was hungry. The way we play it, if you don’t buy in, you won’t be around for much longer.”

That commitment led to another dominant season from the Giants.

“We have a system, a way of playing: high pace, high tempo,” Kulyk said. “If teams can’t keep up, we’re not going to play down to teams. We want teams chasing us.”

Kulyk noted that ahead of the championship game, texts were coming in fast and furious from former players who had been with the squad for earlier championship runs. Many veterans of the club, which has been a going concern in Elmwood since 1905, were in stands at Koskie Field for the big win.

“We’ve been around a long time,” Kulyk said of the Giants’ legacy. “There’s a lot of kids who want to put on that Giants uniform. When they do, something special happens. There’s respect for the game. The tradition of the Elmwood Giants, if you instill that in some kids, they buy in.”

The club’s recent success puts them in rare company. The Carman Goldeyes team that last won four straight MJBL titles, from 1997 to 2000, were inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

“It’s something special,” he repeated.

With the loss of a few key veterans graduating this season, the Giants will otherwise bring back much of this year’s championship roster.

“We’ll be looking for a couple of pitchers and drive for five,” Kulyk said. “It’s exciting.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca or call him at 204-697-7112

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