It’s a good thing that school is out for the summer because any school-aged children that went to Monday night’s 20-10 Saskatoon Berries’ victory over the Regina Red Sox at Cairns Field would be in need of a nap Tuesday.

Designated hitter Brock Laird provided a walk-off, run-scoring single in the bottom of the eighth inning – in his seventh plate appearance of the evening – giving the Berries a 10-run lead and invoking the W-C-B-L’s mercy rule of a 10-run lead through eight innings. Those eight innings took three hours and 45 minutes to play! Whether it was very good offence by both sides, shoddy pitching from both teams, a smallish strike zone or a combination of all three factors – that contributed to the long night in which many of the announced crowd of 1,565 didn’t stick around to see the contest end. After scoring 18 runs on 16 hits Sunday in Swift Current, the Berries kept their hitting shoes on and produced 20 runs on 22 hits with all nine position players scoring at least one run and collecting at least one base hit. First baseman Josh Henson went four-for-five at the plate, including his sixth home run of the season, four runs scored and three R-B-I. The teams combined to throw 366 pitches, including 15 batters going to a full count. Saskatoon improved to 21-9 while Regina, who managed 14 hits off Berries’ pitching, dropped to 11-18. Saskatoon is home to the West Division co-leading Okotoks Dawgs Tuesday and Wednesday night at Cairns Field with first pitch both nights at 7 o’clock. Following are Les Lazaruk’s post-game conversations with head coach Joe Carnahan, Laird and third baseman Nick Cote…..