Champions crowned as Western’s comes to a close in P.A.

“This team never thinks the world is against us. We think that we just got to bide our time and our chances will come, and they usually do.”

The win marks the third Western Championship for Kuchinka as a coach within the Estevan Brewers program, having won once before at the 18U level in 2024 with his first coming in 2022 at the 13U level. In each of his Western wins, he did it while coaching and/or coaching with one, if not, all three of his sons.

“We won with the 13U team when we hosted in Estevan with my youngest. Then we won two years ago with my oldest and my middle kid when they were both on the team. And now we won this year with myself and my oldest helping coach, while my middle and youngest were playing on the team.”

The Brewers knocked off Manitoba’s Elmwood Giants in the finals with a commanding 19-5 victory in five innings via the mercy rule. Down to their final at bat, Mathieu Prairie popped out into foul territory and into the glove of first baseman Cort Barber for the championship clinching out, giving Estevan their second 18U title in three years.

The captains of the Brewers show off their championship banner following the win. (Image Credit: Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

Estevan was in control from the first pitch, going up 14-4 by the end of the third inning. That’s when a rain delay forced a stoppage of nearly two hours, which also affected the other two finals that were being played at the same time.

Once grounds crews got the field back to playable conditions, Estevan went three up three down to resume play in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half, Elmwood scored one to cut the lead to nine, which set off the Brewers. They exploded for five runs in the next half inning which put the game out of reach to give Estevan the dominant win.

The win was also a case of revenge, as the Giants defeated the Brewers in round robin play a day earlier. Estevan pitcher Tristan Brownridge earned finals MVP honours after throwing a complete game while allowing four runs on eight hits with two walks and one strikeout. The Brewers end the tournament at 4-1 as Elmwood, who are a AAA team from Winnipeg, placed second at 3-2.

The 2026 U18 AA Western Canadian Baseball Champion Estevan Brewers. (Image Credit: Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

Elsewhere, the Sylvan Lake Mariners upset B.C.’s White Rock Tritons 17-14 to capture 13U gold.

The two were tied 4-4 after the second before Sylvan Lake managed to pull away in the following innings, eventually getting out at a 16-8 lead in the top of the sixth. That’s when White rock exploded for five runs in the next half inning to dig into the lead.

After the Mariners made it a four-run lead in the top of the seventh, the Tritons could only manage the same, as Sylvan Lake hung on for the 17-14 win. The Western win marks the first ever for a 13U team from Sylvan Lake, while the 2026 Mariners also represent the first team from the community to qualify for the tournament at that level.

Both the Mariners and Tritons finished the tournament at 4-1, as White Rock entered the finals undefeated. They took down Sylvan Lake in a commanding 12-1 win on Friday, while having a +46 run differential in four round robin games.

Finally in 15U, the Grande Prairie Reds managed to defuse a late comeback attempt by Saskatchewan’s Western Dust Devils to hang on for the 10-7 Western victory.

Fast forward to the top of the fifth, when the Dust Devils got one home to tie the game 4-4. That left Grande Prairie seeing red as they went off for five runs in the bottom half of the inning to blow the game wide open. After scoring once more to make it 10-4, the Devils began to rally and scored three before the final out was made and ending the comeback effort.

The Western Championship is the icing on the cake for Grande Prairie, as they were the only team to go undefeated all weekend across the three Western tournaments at 5-0. The Dust Devils, who hail from Luseland, finish the tournament with a 3-2 record, which caps of a year where they went 47-5 overall.

For the Royals, neither team made it into the playoffs having been mathematically eliminated on Saturday following some crucial losses. The 13U’s finished in a three-way tie for third with Sask’s Humboldt Dodgers and Manitoba’s Winnipeg South Wolves, each holding a 1-3 record. The 15U’s placed last in their tournament at 0-4, while the 18U’s managed to break even at 2-2.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Champions crowned as Western’s comes to a close in P.A.

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