The Prince Albert U15 Astros capped off a trip to the national championships with a fourth place finish in Quebec.
The Astros lost the bronze medal game 1-0 to the NL U15 Selects on Sunday afternoon to fall just short of a medal at the U15 Boys Softball Canadian Championship. The tournament washeld in Saint-Leonard-d’Aston, Quebec which is located roughly 130 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
Astros coach Neil Finch was impressed by how the Astros persevered throughout the week in Quebec.
“(We were) very proud of the boys and how they played,” Finch said. “We ended up playing nine games while we were there at Nationals and had six wins and three losses, so to go to national championship and have that kind of record, the boys did very well.”
In the bronze medal game Finch said that the team just needed a few more hits. He said Astros pitcher Willis Finch played well, but the team struggled to generate offence against Newfoundland’s starter.
“We were one or two hits away from putting a medal around the boy’s necks,” Finch said.
“Their pitcher was throwing really well and we end up losing 1-0. We had some hits during the game, we just didn’t have any get across the plate.
“It was a fantastic ball game. But (I’m) very proud of the 11 players that went out there not knowing how we might fare. We battled in every single game that we played in.”
In the opening playoff game on Saturday afternoon, the Astros faced the Valley Blue Jays from Laird who defeated them in Prince Albert for the top Saskatchewan spot for Nationals.
“It was one of those things where we’re quite familiar with each other, but we are both there cheering each other on. Then to have to play each other in the first round of playoffs was not the greatest when you’re out and go back to have to face each other,” Finch said.
Finch said that the 3-2 win for the Astros was a close game with both teams playing well.
In the next playoff game on Saturday night they met the Tara (ON) Twins who had handed the Astros a 3-0 loss in round robin and defeated them 7-3 to advance to the bronze medal game.
“That was a game where our boys hit the ball well, so we were on fire on the bats,” Finch
said.
Playing nine games over the span of the tournament was a challenge for the players.
“It is definitely an endurance test, it’s not a sprint for sure,” Finch said.
The overall season was a success for the Astros, according to Finch.
“(I’m) just happy with where the boys ended up being able to go to the national championship and compete with any team there. The team that won the gold medal today, we beat by one run in the extra innings during the round Robin, so we were right in the mix with
any team there,” Finch said.
The gold medal winner were the Elmira Heat, while silver went to the East Hants Mastodons from Nova Scotia.
The Astros opened the week with a 19-4 win over the Newfoundland Labrador 2 Rebels on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 14. Then on Wednesday evening the Astros defeated the host Express St-Léonard-d’Aston 4-1.
On Thursday, they opened with a 3-0 loss to Tara MPM Twins in the morning and defeated the Elmira Heat 10-9 in extra innings in the afternoon. On Friday the Astros defeated the U15 Selects (NL) 6-4 in the morning and lost 10-0 to NS East Hants Mastodons in the afternoon
to conclude round robin play with a record of 4-2.
Finch said that the field was balanced with talented teams.
“There was probably eight or nine teams that could have won gold in my opinion,” he said.
“I am just really happy with the way we represented Prince Albert and surrounding area this week.”
