The Moose Jaw Mallards had ups and downs throughout their season, but they were able to put it all together in the end.

The local squad walked away with the 2017 Baseball Saskatchewan Bantam AA Tier 2 Provincial Championship over the weekend in Saskatoon, beating the Dinsmore Dynamos, 12-10, in the final on Sunday.

“In every single game in this provincial tournament, they got better and better and more confident, and as they got more confident, things really took off,” said Head Coach Shawn Kohl. “It was a great way to finish the season and very deserving for sure.”

In the championship game on Sunday, the Mallards jumped out to a big lead early and held off a late charge from Dinsmore to secure the title.

“They were excited and nervous in the final,” said Kohl. “Things got a little tense, we went into the final inning with a 12-5 lead, but for them to hang the way they did and finish the way they did, they were pretty happy. It was good.”

Much like their season, Moose Jaw had some highs and lows during the round robin.

They opened with provincials with an 8-7 win over the Yorkton Cardinals on Friday, but then dropped their morning game on Saturday, falling 8-1 to the Carrot River Loggers.

Moose Jaw actually led that game 1-0, but errors cost them and let the Loggers take the win.

The Mallards bounced back with a 12-5 win over the Saskatoon Blue Jay Sluggers in the afternoon to get things rolling.

“That was when our offence really started to take over, the kids got in a groove and we really started putting the bat on the ball well,” said Kohl.

From that game, Moose Jaw secured a 5-4 win over the Saskatoon Prairie Blue Jays in the semifinal on Sunday morning and then kept rolling into the final.

With the offence rolling and their pitchers throwing well, Kohl said the biggest key was playing clean defence.

“At this level, if you can minimize your mistakes you’re going to stand a good chance of winning the game,” said Kohl. “Our pitching was great, we limited our walks, our offence came alive and were driving the ball hard, we utilized our speed on the base paths – overall the team just played fantastic.”

In the final, the Mallards started soaring right from the beginning as the bats stayed hot and they had strong outings from two of their best pitchers in Jeremy Kohl and Riley Skarbon.

Skarbon hit a three-run home run in the final to help his cause on the mound. He closed out the game after Kohl went 5 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs in his start.

“The kids played extremely well in that game,” said Shawn Kohl.

After starting the regular season hot, the Mallards went into a slump in the middle of the year, but they righted the ship and picked up wins when it counted.

“We had a lot of work to do when we had that mid-season lull just to get them all back on track, but they worked hard, they did a ton of hitting and fielding and in the end it paid off,” said Kohl.