There’s no place like home.
That’s certainly true for the Fort McMurray Giants as the club won seven of its 11 games played at Shell Place this season as the team wrapped up the home portion of its inaugural season this past weekend.
The Giants swept the visiting Brooks Bombers in back-to-back sets of double-headers at Shell Place taking all four games by scores of 5-3 and 4-2 on Friday along with 4-3 and 2-1 wins on Saturday.
“It feels really good especially up here in Fort Mac, getting the four games that we needed especially going 4-0,” said Giants Manager Kellen Camus on the Country 93.3 post-game show. “Those were tough games today, playing nine is not easy especially when it’s two double-headers on back-to-back days that’s pretty tough to do in baseball. The guys played really well, I’m pretty proud of them.”
In the final game the Giants saw an incredible pitching performance from Isaac Mullins who went the full nine innings allowing just seven hits and a single run. It was likely the most dominant pitching performance from a Fort McMurray pitcher at Shell Place this season.
Sunday the Giants fell 12-2 to the Edmonton Prospects on the first of a four game road swing to end the season.
Following Sunday’s loss the Giants record sits at 15-30, the victory for the Prospects clinched the final playoff spot in the Western division for the Edmonton-based club.
This weekend was the final chance for fans in Fort McMurray to see the club after a shortened home schedule due to the wildfire.
“The community overcame unbelievably and they’ve all come back and they’ve welcomed us with open arms when we decided to come back on [Jul.1] and it’s just been a great thing. For the Giants organization it’s a whole learning process, it’s the first year […] you’ve just got to sit back at the end of the season and say ‘hey what did we do right, what did we do wrong and what kind of improvements can we make to keep this team going for years and years to come.’”
The Giants will close out the regular season with three straight games in Okotoks beginning Tuesday.
