For the first time in program history, the Prince Albert Minor Baseball Association hosted a baseball camp in association with the Saskatoon Berries.
The camp was organized by PAMBA board member Curtis Bradbury, who is the uncle of current Berries pitcher Reid Beck. Through the Beck family, Bradbury was able to connect with Saskatoon head coach Joe Carnahan to organize a date for the camp during the offseason.
Bradbury says he wasn’t sure what the response would be from the Prince Albert baseball community, but he was pleased by how many registrants the camp had.
“The Berries’ schedule was extremely busy in their short season, so they usually have one day off a week. I had contact with him in May and kind of set that date for July 13th for them to come up. I had asked for four and they ended up sending six players, so that’s how the camp kind of came together.”
“We didn’t know what to expect initially. We had a hundred kids sign up within about two hours of opening up the count, which was incredible. I had booked the field house in case there was rain. I knew that there was quite an excitement behind this.”
A total of six Berries players made the trip up from Saskatoon including Reid Beck, Dallen Rude, Nathan Houston, Clay Mixon, Jackson Fraser and Diego Quinonez.
Bradbury says the players enjoyed the experience with the camp because it provided a way for them to make some money during a very busy summer schedule.
“I was fortunate enough to have my nephew, who was one of the members of the Berries, come up and help out. He brought five buddies along and they were able to make a little bit of money on the side as well to help supplement their baseball season. They’re so busy that a lot of them don’t have jobs so being able to help out at camps and get some money for a day was beneficial to them as well. They were fantastic with the kids.”
Quinonez is from Arizona while Mixon is originally from Texas. The other four Berries players all grew up in Saskatchewan.
Bradbury says the one-on-one connection that the campers were able to get with the Berries players was something that was an important takeaway.
“They are role models for the kids. They communicated quite well. Each group got an hour and a half of skills, but I think it was more of that one-on-one being able to talk, ask questions. It was more of the takeaway and the parents related just to have the opportunity to have a different view. Any camp is a good camp, but to have these NCAA college kids who are still heavily involved in the game, to be able to come out and share their experiences and a few tips or takeaways that each kid was able to take was pretty important.”
As of publishing, the Berries sit in second place in the WCBL East Division with a 27-12 record. They sit one game back of the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
Bradbury says he encourages families to make a trip down to Saskatoon to take in a game.
“It’s always good to give back. I think as a baseball fan, I certainly encourage parents to try to take in a Berries game and show that support. They provided us with some support. It’d be nice for us to return the favor and go down and watch a game and cheer those boys on. It’s something that we want to make an annual event now moving forward and we’ve had contact with the Berries moving that forward into next year already.”
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