The Carillon Sultans season came to an end Wednesday night at A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach.

The Sultans gave up seven runs in the top of the seventh inning and lost 11-4 to the Elmwood Giants.

The defending Manitoba Junior Baseball League champions took the best-of-five semifinal three games to one.

"Sometimes things are just not meant to be," said Carillon manager Alex Grenier. "We held our own through six innings. We tossed guys in there that didn't pitch a lot of innings. In the end they had some base hits and scored some runs on us in the last inning."

The Sultans plated three runs in the fourth inning and grabbed a 4-1 lead.

The Giants got those three runs back in their half of the fifth inning thanks to two walks, two singles and a momentary lack of focus by the Carillon infielders.

The Sultans had a chance in the bottom of the sixth as they got their first two batters on base.

Nick Grenier was hit by a pitch and Jared Esau singled but the home team couldn't come through with the clutch hit they needed to regain the lead.

The defending champs then sent 11 batters to the plate in their seven-run seventh inning.

"There was no give up on our part," said Grenier. "I can't ask for more from these guys. They all have full time jobs. There's some construction guys and some trades people on our team that work long hours and are struggling just to get to the games. We show up at the ball diamond and the other team is already there at 5:30 p.m. There's are big difference there."

It's the second year in a row the Giants eliminated the Sultans in the semifinals.

"This is the hardest we've ever worked," said Elmwood manager Ed Kulyk shortly after the final pitch of game four was thrown. "That Sultans team is the best hitting team I've seen in the four years I've been in the MJBL. They're gritty, they're just a really good team. Our bats finally woke up. We are slow starters and the top of the order finally came through and the bottom, with our bench put together some clutch hits and that's how we got that win. That was big."

When asked to reflect on 2017, Grenier says that because they had nine, 10 or 11 players come out to games during the season, players on Carillon's AAA midget program got some valuable playing time.

"We were always calling up a midget or two and giving them some at bats and giving them the want to play here next year. In the playoffs we always had some guys up and it's so helpful for these guys to be on our team and do some bullpen catching or pinch hitting or running. It's so helpful to have those guys around. I hope they come back and play."

Elmwood will meet St. James in the MJBL final.

The A's took out the Pembina Valley Orioles three games to one in their semifinal.