The Westlock Red Lions secured the NCABL title over the weekend with a 2-0 series victory against the Parkland Twins.
This is the second year in a row the Red Lions have won the title with both wins coming against the Twins and is also their record 20th NCABL title in total since the league began in 1968.
“Winning back-to-back feels awesome. Doing against the same team feels even better,” said Red Lions general manager Jordan Brand. “I haven't seen us hit the ball as well as we have all season like we did in the finals which was amazing to see in itself.”
The Red Lions crushed the Twins 7-0 in game one with a flawless defensive performance. The game was deadlocked 0-0 after two innings but the seal was broken with two runs in the third. The Red Lions added a further three runs in the fourth and two runs in the sixth through a home run by Travis Wagner to take a commanding series lead to Spruce Grove on Saturday. NCABL MVP Ayden Cote pitched a brilliant game and team leader and general manager Jordan Brand caught one in the fifth with bases loaded to keep the Twins off the scoreboard. Derek Lofstrand led the way offensively for the Red Lions in game 1 with three hits on three times at bat.
The Red Lions dominated offensively once again in game 2 in Spruce Grove with a 9-1 victory to secure the championship. Lofstrand delivered once again for the Red Lions securing five runs on three hits. Lofstrand was named the finals MVP due to his performance over the two games. Wagner added another home run in game 2 with Sean Baudoin, Teron Callihoo, Leyton Sharrun and Jared Lamb all having multi-hit games as well. Kyle Lawrence threw a brilliant game on the pitchers mound allowing only one run from the Twins and getting five strikeouts.
“Last year was two real tight games where we had to battle a lot harder, where this year, I felt like we got up and we stayed up and made sure we were the victorious team every game,” said Brand. “It feels great obviously to win two years in a row and the team we had again was phenomenal.”
The Red Lions won the league title following an outstanding season where they finished top of the NCABL regular season standings with an 18-2 record and an 11-game winning streak going into the playoffs.
The Red Lions swept the Legal Primeaus in the playoff semi-finals to advance to the final against the Twins.
The Red Lions, the previous weekend, were eliminated in the first round of the Western Canada Baseball Championships, losing all three games, but it seemingly did not affect their dominating performance in the finals.
“I think for us the biggest thing is to make sure we can keep the same crew together, which I don't see us having a problem with that, as we're a pretty tight-knit crew,” said Brand. “Just taking it easy this off-season, getting some swings in when we can and hanging out when we can, because team building is everything as well.”
“It was just a great season. It was awesome to see the support from our fans in Westlock and even in Spruce Grove there were quite a bit there.”
This is also the Red Lions' second championship win since the passing of Chuck Keller, whose name is synonymous with the Red Lions, who play at Keller Field, named in his honour. Keller was a vital figure in forming the NCABL in the late ‘60s and had a hand on or off the field in most of the Red Lions' title wins prior to his passing in 2024. Keller was manager of the Red Lions during their title wins in 1994 and 1995, later becoming the team governor and official scorekeeper.
