The opening games of the WCBL division playoff finals provided plenty of highlight material for baseball fans.

More than 1,500 fans showed up at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field in Saskatoon to watch the Berries hammer the Moose Jaw Miller Express by a 14-1 score on Sunday, Aug. 11th.

Lefty Jacob Hadden moved to 2-0 during the playoffs by pitching five shutout innings and recording four strikeouts along the way. Dallan Rude - a product of Muenster, Saskatchewan - handled the remaining four innings for the Berries and allowed two hits and one earned run.

But the day belonged to outfielder Carter Beck, who hit for the cycle by collecting a single, double, triple and home run in the win. 

"Things were just feeling really good at the plate and my second at bat when I hit the home run, I had a feeling I was going to hit a home run and it just kind of happened. I hit my single and said, 'OK, I guess it's time to hit my triple,'" Beck told teammate Oakland Flodell on the postgame Flo Show.

"I took a look at the outfield and, not that I can really aim where it's going, but tried to hit it to left field and happened to do it and ran as fast as I could and all of a sudden looked up and I was at third base."

Beck scored four runs and collected three runs batted in (RBI) and leads the WCBL postseason in most offensive categories.

Game 2 of the best-of-three East Division series takes place at 7:05 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 12th at Ross Wells Park in Moose Jaw. The Miller Express must win to extend their playoff run.

SYLVAN LAKE SUCCESS

The Okotoks Dawgs and Sylvan Lake Gulls were locked into a much tighter contest in Game 1 of the West Division final at Gulls Field.

The Gulls got solo homers from Matty Fung, Cooper Ciesielski and Elijah Hammill to stake Sylvan Lake to an early 3-0 lead while right-handed pitcher Kyle Froehlich struck out six over 6.1 innings.

Okotoks clawed their way back into the game in the seventh inning when they scored two runs. The Dawgs tied it up with another run in the eighth inning. Second baseman Ricardo Sanchez - who hit for the cycle during the 2022 WCBL playoffs - picked up an RBI, as did infielder Jarrett Burney, during the comeback.

The Dawgs put two runners on base in the top of the ninth but were unable to score, setting the stage for a walkoff win for the Gulls.

Gavin Galenza hit a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning, which brought Sylvan Lake second baseman Marques Abulhosn to the plate. Abulhosn fell behind on two swinging strikes before smashing a homer over the right-field wall.

The blast gave the Gulls a 5-3 victory and their first postseason win over the Dawgs. It also sent the 1,644 fans in attendance into a frenzy.

"Just amazing. I've never felt like this in my baseball career," Abulhosn told Joe Whitbread during Sylvan Lake's Beyond the Bases postgame show.

"I was just trying to get something over the middle of the plate that I could handle ... saw that thing hard in and let her fly ... that was the most emotion I've ever showed on a baseball field."

The Dawgs face a must-win situation during Game 2 of the West Division final series when the action shifts to Seaman Stadium at 7:05 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 12th.