Miramichi Sports: Cataracts Win MVBL Championship

MIRAMICHI - The Grand Falls Cataracts are the 2012 Miramichi Valley Baseball League champions. The Cataracts scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday night at Cardinal Park in Miramichi to earn a 8-4 win in Game 3 of the final.

The win completed a three game sweep of the defending league and provincial champion Newcastle Cardinals in the best-of-five final.

The Cataracts led the game 4-2 after six and a half, but the Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when a pinch hitting Kris McKay smacked a two run RBI single off reliever Clint Hitchcock to tie the game 4-4.

But in the top of the seventh, McKay, who went 7-0 in the regular season and on the mound in relief, gave up two hits and a walk to juice the bases for Martin Moreau. He'd make McKay pay hitting a two run RBI single to push the score to 6-4. After putting Rico Proulx on, Justin Williams drove in the seventh run before Hitchcock helped out his own cause with a sacrifice fly to score another and make it 8-4.

The game began with lefty Proulx on the mound for Grand Falls and Gary Ryder starting for Newcastle.

In the bottom of the second Darcy Foran lead off with a triple and was brought in by James Hicks with an RBI single to give Newcastle a 1-0 lead. The Cataracts answered back in the top of the fourth tying the game when Moreau collected his first RBI bringing Marc Michaud in to make it 1-1.

Adam Plante then drove in a couple of runs on hit off Ryder in the top of the fifth to put Grand Falls up 3-1. A Denis Graham sacrifice fly for Newcastle in the bottom of the inning made it 3-2 before Proulx scored on a Hitchcock base hit in the top of the sixth.

The Cataracts now advance to the intermediate provincial finals being held next weekend in Dalhousie.