The Saint John Alpines finally got a big monkey off their back last Saturday. On a brisk but beautiful night in the Port City, the Alpines outlasted the Fredericton Royals 2-1 in Game 5 of the NB Senior League Baseball League finals in front of a pretty healthy crowd at Memorial Field. With the win, Saint John won the Best of 7 Championship final 4-1 and in the process collected the NB Senior League title ending a 21-year drought.

The Alpines, who finished 2nd in the loop in the regular season, opened the playoffs with a Best of 7 semi-final series against the Chatham Ironmen. The Alpines would take the first three games of this series to put an immediate stanglehold on this series early. In Game 1, the Pines got a great effort from Matt Nason and a home run off the bat of Mark Legere in a 6-4 win at home. In Game 2, veteran Sherman Yeo grabbed the win in relief on the road as the Alpines took this game by a score of 6-2. 

In Game 3, veteran lefty Jay Johnston was dominant as he spun a complete game shutout in a 3-0 win back in the Port City. Connor Huckins and Ryan Van Snick both had HRs for Saint John. The Ironmen were able to get themselves back in the series in Game 4 at home as Jamie Walls spun a gem for Chatham in a 6-1 victory. Orry Cook had a home run for the Ironmen. In Game 5, Chatham jumped out to an early 4-1 lead but the Alpines stormed all the way back to take this game 8-5 and win the series 4-1. Ryan Nason was the winning pitcher in this contest for the Pines while Luc Vautour had a HR to lead the offense. 

This put Saint John in the league final series against the Fredericton Royals who upset the top seeded Moncton Fisher Cats in their semi-final series in six games. The Alpines took the opener in this series 3-1 as Jay Johnston outdueled Pascal McCarthy in a great opening game. Mother Nature took over the series for a bit after that as the follwoing week and a bit Game 2 was rained out numerous times leading to a substantial delay in the series.  Game 2 finally happened Tuesday of the following week and Saint John again won a close affair 3-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. 

With their back against the wall, the Royals waltzed into Memorial Field and took Game 3 in a big way winning 14-0 to cut the Pines series lead to 2-1. This bought the series back to a racious and loud Royals Field for Game 4 but Matt Nason was up to the task and he spun a no-hitter against Fredericton leading the Alpines to a 3-0 win and a 3-1 series lead. In Game 5, the Pines went back to the veteran Johnston as he toed the slab against Royals righty Colby Lyle. This wa san epic pitchers duel as both guys were not giving an inch. 

The Alpines opened the scoring in the bottom of the 5th inning as a run scoring single from Connor Huckins got Saint John on the board. The Royals, once again on the brink, had a solid 7th inning against Johnston getting a pair of runners aboard and rookie call-up had a solid 2-out AB which led to the lone Fredericton run score on an error at 3B. In the bottom half of the 7th, veteran Ronnie Barton lead off with a double. Lyle grinded though as he was able to get a pair of outs but a little broken bat squibber from Huckins eluded the 2nd baseman and the runner scored from second base and the party was on in the Port City. 

Congrats to the Fredericton Royals on an outstanding season after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and other factors. Big congrats goes to Derek Wilson, Kirk Cornell and the whole front office as well as the ROyals roster on a great season. To Terre Hunter and the Alpines club, 21 years is a long time to wait but you are finally back atthe top of the roost in NB Senior Men's Baseball. Congrats on an amazing season and best of luck as you represent NB at the Canadian Men's Baseball Tournament next year in Red Deer, Alberta.