Chilliwack’s mosquito AAA baseball Cougars kicked off the summerball season by placing second at the 2011 Boulanger Tournament in Cloverdale last weekend.
In tough against last year’s provincial champions, Abbotsford, the Cats fell 14-5 in the opener.
Moving on, Alden Leiper and Travis Halladay had two hits each in a 5-3 win over Rutland and Wil Kushniryk cleared the fences with a second inning grand slam to help the Cougars in a 10-6 victory over Nanaimo.
Winning pitchers in those two games were Shawn MacMillan and Dylan Ohlsen.
Chilliwack dominated Richmond 13-1 in the semifinal, led by Dylan Merrit’s three hits. On the mound, Merritt got the win with help from closer Jesse Howden.
The championship game was a rematch with Abby as the home team tried to solve the powerful Angels. Mike Fitzsimmons held back their quick sticks with five strikeouts through three innings.
Down 4-1 in the fifth, the Cougars got four consecutive hits and a three-RBI double from Kushniryk to take a 5-4 lead into the final inning. But Abby retook the lead with two runs, and Chlliwack stranded two runners in scoring position, dropping the final 6-5.