THUNDER BAY -- Win or lose on Monday night, it turns out the Thunder Bay Border Cats weren't destined to claim the Great Plains East Division first-half crown and an automatic spot in the Northwoods League playoffs.
For the record, the Cats were edged 3-2 by the Willmar Stingers, who took three of four games from host Thunder Bay in a Canada Day weekend series at Port Arthur Stadium.
But needing to win and the Eau Claire Express to lose, it was evident early on in the evening that at least one of the two wasn't going to fall in Thunder Bay's favour, the Express rolling to a 12-1 win over the Rochester Honkers, ultimately winning the division's first-half title by two games over the Border Cats.
The Cats battled back against the Stingers, who took an early 2-0 lead on Thunder Bay starter Jack Pineau, scoring a pair in the sixth to chase the hometown favourite from the game, which until that point had been a scoreless tie.
Thunder Bay evened things up in the seventh, the first run pushed across on a Zane Skansi double that plated Logan Johnstone. Skansi came home four pitches later, courtesy of a Travis Chestnut RBI single to centre. But with Chestnut on third, Patrick Engskov popped out to the pitcher, Andrew Baumgart, to end the threat.
Willmar won it in the 10th Luke Williams scoring Aidan Byrne, who started the extra inning on second base. The Border Cats had the same opportunity to place a man on second to start the bottom half of the frame, but Jonah Sutton was quickly erased at third trying to advance on a Tyler Kehoe come-backer to the mound.
The Border Cats loaded the bases with one out, but Brayden Kuriger hit into a 5-3 double play off reliever Ben Irsfeld to put an end to the threat. Irsfeld earned the win giving up a hit in two innings of work.
Pineau gave up two runs on five hits, striking out five. Cole Poirrier took the loss, giving up an unearned run on two hits over two innings of work.
Thunder Bay starts its second-half quest against Eau Claire (20-14) on Tuesday on the road. They're back at home on Thursday against Rochester.
