Prince Albert's Alex Ozar (left) and Cooper Price (right) won the SPBL 18U AAA title with the Sask5 Giants. (Submitted photo/Haley Ozar)

By Jeff D'Andrea

P.A.’s Price and Ozar team up to win SPBL 18U AAA championships

Aug 26, 2020 | 4:21 PM

Prince Albert may not have an 18U AAA baseball team, but that didn’t stop Cooper Price or Alex Ozar from winning a championship at that level.

Price and Ozar were two huge pieces of the puzzle for the Martensville-based Sask5 Giants, who won the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League 18U AAA championships.

Price threw a complete-game shutout for the Giants in the finals to give them a 2-0 win over the Regina Athletics on Sunday to win the league. Price took the signs from P.A. pal Ozar, the team’s catcher who also scored the insurance run in the game for the Giants.

“It just shows that all that driving down to practices three times a week and going down for games, it was that much better winning. With my catcher Alex Ozar also being from P.A., it was pretty sweet that both of us after the game winning it, we both got to rush together and give each other a big hug,” Price said. “We don’t really know what’s going on. It’s a bunch of emotions. You win it and you know you won it and all your teammates are running towards you and making a big dogpile. It was pretty sweet to show that all that hard work, all that driving at night, it paid off.”

Both Price and Ozar had a lot of chemistry together throughout the season. They both played together in Prince Albert, going back to their bantam days.

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Price put together a good season with a 2-1 record through five starts, 30 strikeouts in 23.1 innings pitched, a 5.10 ERA, and the fifth-best WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) at 1.586. In the playoffs, he didn’t allow a run in 9.1 innings pitched, including that seven-inning complete-game shutout in the finals. But Price gives a lot of the praise to Ozar for helping him get there.

“I can’t give enough credit to him. He calls the whole game, he knows what he’s doing. He has complete trust,” Price said. “If he wants a curveball or a slider in the dirt, I’m totally comfortable throwing it there because he’s capable of blocking it. He knows every batter, and he’s getting the plays that need to be made.”

The Sask5 Giants celebrate their championship. Submitted photo, Haley Ozar

Ozar said it was pretty easy being Price’s catcher, as he had all the confidence that Price would make his pitches.

“Well Cooper’s a good player, he’s a great pitcher. Being that me and him are from P.A., we had great chemistry,” Ozar said. “When he’s pitching and I’m catching, we just feel good together. We know that he’ll come out strong and have a good game.

“It was a fun year, I thought we had a pretty good team,” added Ozar. “As soon as playoff time came, we knew we had a chance to win the whole thing.”

Ozar didn’t just contribute behind the plate for the Giants, but beside it as well in the batters’ box. Ozar hit .324 from the plate and had 18 RBI’s, just one off the Giants’ lead. He was also one of four Giants to hit a home run in the season, while scoring 24 runs.

“In AAA, the pitching is that much better. Every time you come to the plate, you have to have a plan and be ready to hit. Sometimes you get in slumps but you just have to battle through it. Some games you’ll hit 4-4 and get a home run, others you’ll strikeout three times. That’s what baseball’s like.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW