By IAN WILSON
He was a purple people eater for the Saskatoon Berries.
Righthander Wesley Shackelford denied opposing batters any satisfaction throughout the 2026 Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) postseason.
The Belleville, Texas product made four impactful appearances against the Regina Red Sox, Moose Jaw Miller Express and Sylvan Lake Gulls on Saskatoon’s run to their first championship in franchise history.
The results were eye popping … three saves, one win, 14 strikeouts and zero runs allowed against the 30 batters that Shackelford faced. The most he conceded was one hit and one walk through nine innings of bullpen duty.
For his efforts Shackelford was named the WCBL Postseason MVP, although he was quick to give credit to the teammates that helped the Berries go 6-1 in pursuit of the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy.
“The bond that we had just straight off the bat was incredible. And I just knew that when we got things going, it would result in something like this. So to see it all come together, I mean, it was a total team effort,” said the Odessa College student.
“I couldn’t have done it without the offense, putting up runs every night, and I couldn’t have done it without our starters, keeping them to two or three runs a game, going six innings every time.”
Shackelford admitted he thought he might be in the running for most valuable player, but highlighted the play of other Saskatoon contenders, such as setup man Brooks Jones, catcher Aiden Kilshaw, second baseman Nick Stinson and outfielder Ethan Murdoch.
“They all made key plays. Murdoch, I mean, that guy, even though he didn’t get as much done with the bat this postseason as he would have liked, he was incredible defensively. That diving play against Regina really saved it. But we had so many guys that were worthy of it,” he said.
Shackelford was prepared to pitch the ninth inning of the championship-clinching 11-1 victory over the Gulls. He had begun warming up in the bullpen ahead of the final frame and chatted with head coach Joe Carnahan about the final outs of the game.
“I threw a couple and I was like, ‘Joe, you’ve got to get a Saskatoon-born guy going. Get (reliever Colin) Plain throwing, get him to throw the ninth inning.’ … just seeing a Saskatoon-born player do that was, it was incredible to see,” said Shackelford of Plain striking out the side in the ninth inning.
Jones had nothing but praise for his bullpen buddy.
“Amazing. That dude’s been lights out all playoffs and even all regular season. And he’s been such a good addition halfway through the year. And he’s MVP for a reason, he pitched his ass off,” said Jones.
Murdoch also called Shackelford a worthy MVP.
“The guy just goes out there and throws. I mean, it’s as simple as that … there’s no regard for anything else that’s going on around him,” said the Swift Current native.
“He’s the type of guy you love to play with because there’s just no moment too big and he just loves the game, loves that situation. He wants the ball when it’s tight, so yeah it was unbelievable.”
Shackelford was impressed by the 2,579 fans who showed up for the final game at NexGen Patch at Cairns Field in Saskatoon.
“The crowd’s been incredible just all season, just seeing them show up. Our last two home games in the regular season, we started breaking attendance records. And it was kind of like, wow, we’ve got so many people here,” noted Shackelford.
“This is the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of for sure, and they’ve been awesome the whole postseason and all season.”
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