Sultans swing for the fences

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This article was published 12/06/2024 (506 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Is it finally the year for the Carillon Sultans?

The club hasn’t won the Manitoba Junior Baseball League championship since 2012. This season could be different for the Sultans, who play out of A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach.

They are currently on top of the league with a 10-2 record, second in win percentage only to perennial contender the Elmwood Giants (8-1).

“We’ve had a pretty good start,” Sultans coach Rick Penner said Wednesday.

“We have mostly a returning group from last year and they’re playing pretty confidently. They’ve known each other for a long time, and they came into the year knowing that we’d be competitive.”

The Sultans came close last year, losing in the semifinals to the eventual champions, the St. Boniface Legionnaires.

“Our team really believed in themselves last year,” said Penner. “We could beat anybody in the league and it was a good chance for us to win. So that semifinal loss was very disappointing. They want to go back and really prove that we’re the strongest, deepest team in the league and we can win this thing.”

Penner attributes the success to a well-balanced team characterized by strong defence, batting and pitching.

Left-handed hurler Linden Meilleur hopes to contribute to the Sultans’ mission of winning the championship and breaking a 12-year drought.

“We have a really good team,” said Meilleur. “We knew that coming into the year. We’ve had a lot of guys that went to college and it’s awesome to have them back.”

Meilleur, 21, has played with the Sultans since he was in peewee at 13. This will be his last campaign.

“You just kind of want to work on the little things,” he said. “Especially against the top teams, learning their tendencies and see what we can do if we end up meeting them come playoff time.”

Complementing the Sultans’ strong pitching and defence are six players hitting above .300. Among those is Cody Gunderson, who is having another big year with a league-leading .636 average.

Rylan Penner, 21, is another veteran determined to win after gaining experience at Williston State College in North Dakota for the past two years.

“We have a very good veteran group,” said Penner, who has been playing baseball in the region for most of his life. “We do have a lot of guys that are playing college ball. So we have a lot of experience there.”

It will be a tight battle for a playoff spot in the MJBL. With one month left in the regular season, the Giants and St. James A’s are tied for second place with 16 points, followed by the Interlake Blue Jays with 12.

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The reigning champion Legionnaires are off to a slow start, third-last in the league with a 4-7 record.

“I don’t remember any Junior Sultans winning,” said Penner about the 12-year championship drought. “It would be pretty cool to be that team that breaks that.”

The Sultans will meet the Legionnaires on Friday at A.D. Penner Park. (7 p.m.)

“We’re gonna take it one game a time,” said Penner. “We’re just going to really focus on playing good baseball and putting ourselves in a spot to be ready to go by the time the season wraps up.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca