Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
The finish line is in sight for Prince Albert’s minor baseball teams and with provincial playdowns fast approaching the local teams are all putting themselves in a nice position for some year-end success.
In the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League’s 18U AA division, both the Padres and Royals have posted recent six-game winning streaks to make a move in the standings and improve their chances of claiming one of the eight spots available for the Tier 1 provincials in that group.
The Padres, who are playing some serious catch-up in games played heading down the stretch, were in Moose Jaw on Saturday and Lumsden on Sunday and with wins in three of the four games played they now sit in a tie for fifth place with an 11-7-1 record.
“We won three of four and that is just what the doctor ordered,” commented Padres’ manager Jason Van Otterloo upon returning from the successful trip down south. “If we can sneak into that seven or eight spot then for sure we will call it a successful season.”
The Padres, who are in their first year of existence and are comprised of mainly first-year players in the 18U age class, swept the twinbill in Moose Jaw when they beat the Canucks 14-1 and 14-4 on Saturday.
Josh Bonthoux held the Canucks to just two hits in recording the opening win while Jett Miller led the offence going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and knocking in three others. In the second game in Moose Jaw it was Tommy Sutherland picking up the win on the mound with Noah Van Otterloo scoring three of the runs while Drew Schultz, Markus Exner and Beckett Dallyn had two runs each.
The Padres continued their winning ways with a 10-4 victory in the opening game of a doubleheader against Lumsden on Sunday, but their six-game winning streak came to an end when they fell 16-1 to the Cubs in the nightcap.
“You know when we looked at it before the weekend we thought we should be able to sweep Lumsden, but the guy they threw on the mound against us smoothered us,” noted Van Otterloo. “He was significantly better than what we had seen all weekend.”
Exner and Nash Noble led the offence in the win against Lumsden with each scoring a pair of runs with one of Exner’s runs coming via the long ball. In the final game the Padres managed just two hits and Van Otterloo said the team was sluggish from the heat in addition to facing the Cubs’ ace.
The Padres have nine games left on the schedule and with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, to say they will be busy is an understatement.
The Padres travel to Warman on Wednesday for a pair of rescheduled games against the SaskFive Giants before heading to Regina on the weekend for a pair of twinbills against the Wolfpack and Blue Jays. The season concludes on July 18 when another pair of make-up games, this time against the Royals, will be played at Andy Zwack Field.
“It’s going to be a bit of a chess match with all the pitching and things, but I’m pretty proud of the guys; they’ve showed a lot of resiliency,” says Van Otterloo.
As for the Royals, their schedule is much simpler as they have just six games left to play following a split in Moose Jaw on Sunday.
Entering the opening game of their series with the Canucks the Royals were riding a six-game winning streak of their own, but that came to a crashing end when the second-to-last-place Moose Jaw squad surprised Prince Albert with a 7-2 decision. The Royals, however, rebounded nicely with a 12-2 victory in the nightcap and now sit in fourth place in the league standings with a 13-8-1 record.
“A couple of errors early in the first game coupled with the guys not getting the bats going cost us,” says Royals manager Troy Semenchuk. “You are not going to win many games when you are making soft contact and score just two runs.”
Declan Borthwick and Jackson Anderson each had two hits in the opening-game loss while Borthwick had two more hits in the nightcap in addition to knocking in three runs and scoring a pair himself. Jaxson Robertson, Kole McGregor and Carter Martin also each had a pair of hits in the second game with Anderson, McGregor and Martin all crossing the plate twice each to account for half the scoring.
The Royals have just one game this week when the North Battlefords Beavers visit Andy Zwack Field on Thursday at 6 p.m. The Royals will then host the East Central Red Sox on Monday before heading to Warman for a pair of games against the Giants on July 16. Their season concludes with the rescheduled doubleheader against the Padres on July 18.
In the 15U AA division the Royals are down to their final two games when they will host the Watrous Lakers at 4 and 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex in Crescent Acres. The Royals, who have a 6-12-0 record, but are 4-4 when playing at home, are in a tie for sixth place and with a pair of wins against the Lakers could climb another spot in the standings.
One final Royals team, the 13U AA squad, was supposed to be in a tournament in Melville last weekend, but the deluge of rain that fell in that area forced the event to be cancelled. The Royals, who have no regular league to compete in, but rely on tournament and exhibition games, will be hosting a one-day jamboree on Saturday at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex. The Royals will take on Humboldt in their opening game at 10 a.m. and then finish off the day with a match against the Saskatoon Avalanche A’s at 4 p.m.
Provincial tournaments will be held over the final two weekends of July with the 13U Royals heading to Humboldt on July 24-26, the 15U Royals travelling to Warman on July 17-19 and should both the Padres and Royals make the top eight in the 18U division then they will be in Regina on July 24-26. If they finish below the top eight then they will be in the Tier 2 provincial event scheduled for the same weekend in Moose Jaw.
Prince Albert is slated to host the U11 Tier 6 provincials on July 17-19 and the 13U Tier 4 provincial event on July 24-26, but the big baseball draw this summer is the Western Canadian championships for 13U, 15U and 18U age classes which will be held in the city Aug. 14-16.
