Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
When the sun rose on Sunday morning there were three Prince Albert baseball teams still in the hunt for a Baseball Saskatchewan provincial championship.
After the tie-breakers were completed at various events across the province there were still three local squads with the glimmer of gold in their eyes, but by the time the semi-finals were played out, Prince Albert was out of the running for any chance of provincial glory.
“In baseball you unfortunately have to be ready to go every inning,” stated head coach Curtis Bradbury after his club surrendered six runs in the third inning of their 14-4 semi-final setback to the Kindersley Royals at the 13U Tier 4 championship that was held at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex in Prince Albert. “I’m really proud of the kids. It was a good learning season. We went into this year as a developmental season and yeah you’d like to win, but I’m really happy with how things turned out.”
At the 13U Tier 1 championship in Humboldt, the Royals had emerged from round-robin play as the No. 1 seed in their pool with two wins and a loss, but a 6-3 setback at the hands of the host Humboldt Dodgers ended their run for a title.
Likewise at the 18U Tier 2 tournament in Moose Jaw, the Prince Albert Padres topped their pool in preliminary play with a 2-1 ledger, but a 20-12 defeat to the Lumsden Cubs in semi-final play put the brakes on a very successful first season of competition.
The only other local squad vying for a provincial crown this weekend were the Royals at the 18U Tier 1 event being played in Regina, but a pair of narrow losses in their first two preliminary games – 5-3 to the top-seeded Regina Blue Jays and 6-5 to the SaskFive Giants – put them out of contention early. The Royals did manage to salvage the weekend when they won their final round-robin contest 19-13 over the Regina Wolfpack.
At the 13U Tier 4 championship in Prince Albert the host Royals did not get off to a good start as they were crushed 14-3 by the Yorkton Cardinals in their opening round-robin game on Friday. The Royals, whose roster featured all but one player being a first-year eligible player in that age class, got a solid pitching performance from Cohen Ziegeman and a towering two-run home run from Billy Ouellet en route to a 13-9 decision over the White Butte Broncos in their next outing.
A win against the Edam Blue Sox in their final preliminary game would have propelled them right into Sunday’s semi-final action, but a 12-11 loss forced the calculators to come out as Prince Albert, Edam and White Butte were all tied for second in their pool with 1-2 records.
After going through the run differential between the three teams it was determined that Edam’s season was over setting the stage for a three-inning tie breaker between the Royals and Broncos. In that game it was Ouellet on the mound and despite giving up a pair of runs to White Butte in the first inning, he held the Broncos in check the remainder of the way as the Royals advanced to the semi-finals with a 5-3 triumph.
Kindersley, which topped their pool with a perfect 3-0 record, fell behind 3-0 in the first inning against Prince Albert in the semi-finals, but their bats woke up in the second when they scored a pair and then the six-run third inning broke the game wide open. It is quite possible the score could have been worse as six runs is the maximum a team can score in an inning at that level and when Kindersley scored their sixth in the third they still had two runners on base with just one out.
Another rule in 13U baseball is pitchers can only throw a maximum of 85 pitches before they are pulled from the game and forced to have four days of rest before throwing again. That scenario happened with Prince Albert’s starter, Brant Fazio, and despite being down 9-4 at the time he was pulled from the game, Fazio had been solid for the Royals and in fact was Prince Albert’s player of the game. A number of fielding errors had prolonged the decisive third inning otherwise the outcome might have been different.
“The kids got the experience of winning a tie-breaker and moving forward next year we are going to have to set our goals a bit higher,” said Bradbury. “The kids will be bigger and stronger and they have that experience now.”
Kindersley went on to capture the 13U Tier 4 title when they edged the Saskatoon Cardinal Chargers 10-9 in the gold-medal game.
The Tier 1 13U Royals are likely pondering a lost opportunity for a provincial title as the team that beat them in the semi-finals, Humboldt, went on to capture the gold medal when they breezed past the Weyburn Beavers 22-7 in the championship final. Prince Albert had opened the tournament with a lopsided victory of their own over Weyburn as the Royals had cruised to a 15-6 triumph in that contest.
The Royals, who lost 9-4 to the Nipawin Giants and outslugged the Saskatoon Avalanche A’s 30-21 in their other preliminary games, will have a couple weeks off now before hosting the Western Canadian 13U AA championship Aug. 14-16 at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex.
The 15U AA Western Canadian title will also be held that same weekend at the same facility. Prince Albert will be represented by the 15U Royals in that event and they will be even more rested as their season concluded a week ago when that age class held its provincial tournament in Martensville.
The Padres, too, appeared to have set things up nicely at the 18U Tier 2 championship after opening the event with 15-3 and 7-2 victories over the Moose Jaw Canucks and Regina White Sox, respectively. An 8-7 setback to the White Butte Broncos in their final round-robin game still left Prince Albert in first place in their pool, but the Lumsden Cubs put an end to the Padres maiden campaign in semi-final play.
“Finishing first in our pool was great,” commented Padres’ manager Jason Van Otterloo. “Pool play was some of our best ball all year with solid pitching and tight defence. We just ran into a hitting machine that was the Lumsden Cubs.”
“It’s exciting to see a crew of first year (players) holding their own with all the teams around the province,” added Van Otterloo. “With a few adjustments the future looks strong.”
The Padres, along with their counterparts the Royals, competed in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League this season with the Royals finishing fifth overall and qualifying for the Tier 1 provincial tournament while the Padres were 10th, therefore being relegated to the Tier 2 event. The top eight teams from the regular season were seeded in the higher level of competition while the bottom seven, along with the Unity Cardinals, vied for provincial Tier 2 honours.
Lumsden, which was just percentage points ahead of the Padres in the regular season, went on to win the Tier 2 title with a 14-8 victory over the East Central Red Sox in the gold-medal game.
As for the 18U Royals their season is not over yet despite failing to get out of the round-robin portion of the provincial Tier 1 tournament on the weekend. The Royals are the host team for the Western Canadian 18U AA championships which will be played Aug. 14-16 at Andy Zwack Field.
One of their opponents at that event will be the Estevan Brewers who upset the top-seeded Regina Blue Jays 12-2 on Sunday to claim the provincial 18U Tier 1 championship. Other teams competing, at all three Western Canadian events, will be champions from Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.
