The North Shore Twins came about as close as you can to winning a championship last week without actually scoring the coveted gold medals.
The Twins fought their way to the final of the B.C. Premier Baseball League championship tournament played Aug. 4 in Whalley where they fell in extra innings to the No. 1-ranked Langley Blaze.
The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the ultra-tight contest when Geoff Ehresman knocked Anthony Cusati in with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth. They held the lead until the bottom of the sixth when Langley scored a pair to take a 2-1 advantage into the final inning. Down to their final out in the top of the seventh, the Twins rallied with Surya Viswanathan starting things off with a single and then scoring on the very next pitch when Taylor Wright ripped a clutch double.
The Twins then seemed destined for the win after scoring in the top of the ninth. Ehresman doubled, stole third and then scored on an error to give the North Shore a 3-2 lead. It didn't stand, however, as Langley loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth and then won it on a two-run double from Dakota Currey.
The Twins ended up with silver to top off an excellent season that saw them finish with a 32-12 regular season record.
The Twins had several standout performances down the stretch with Cusati, Emerson Dohm, Nicolas Favaro, Wright, Griff Goyer and Viswanathan all batting better than .300 in the playoffs. Cusati led the way with eight runs, eight batted in, one home run and a .394 average in 10 playoff games.
On the mound, ace Bradley Smith struck out 30 in 18.2 playoff innings while posting a 1.50 earned run average. Dylan Thorp also shone, picking up two wins while posting a 1.15 ERA in three starts.
"Tears was all I had left after yesterday," Viswanathan tweeted following the game. "We showed what it means to be NorthShoreTwins ... we went out as lions."
