Although they came up short of the playoff bracket in 11U Tier I provincials, it was still a successful weekend for the Prince Albert Royals.
The 11U Royals finished the weekend with a 1-2 record. After falling in an extra inning thriller against the Moose Jaw Canucks on Friday, Prince Albert defeated the Southern Aces in their Saturday morning contest before being walked off by the Kindersley Royals in their final round robin game.
Head coach Nathan Noble says he was proud of the fact that the Royals were in every game they played on the weekend.
“Coming in, we weren’t sure that we were tier one team. We played so well this week and we competed with every team. We had an awesome game this morning, got the bats alive. This last one, we’ve been down a couple of times this weekend. We came back, we tied it up in the sixth inning, we’re a good ball club. We had a great weekend, the boys are resilient, so really proud of them.”
In their final round robin game against Kindersley, Prince Albert trailed heading into the sixth and final inning. Leadoff man Nolan Kihn and two hole hitter Boston Byers would both reach base and score for Prince Albert. Billy Ouellet would end the inning stranded at third.
Boston Atkinson would triple into right centre field to start the bottom of the sixth for Kindersley. The next batter, Nixon Hearn would end the game with a single down the left field line.
Prince Albert starter Joaquin Elliot pitched five innings, plus two batters while staying under the 75 pitch limit.
Noble says Elliot did a great job to keep the Royals in the game.
“So easy just to fold it in. A few errors behind Joaquin today as he’s pitching. He’s doing an awesome job and but he stayed positive he got outs, he kept us in the game. We tied it up. This group, they’re just battlers (and) it was really fun to watch.”
Prince Albert also played host to the U15 Tier 4 provincials on the weekend with games taking place at Lypchuk Field at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex as well as Andy Zwack Field near Prime Ministers Park, with a temporary fence put in.
The U15 PA Royal Ballers made the playoff bracket and fell in the semi-final to the eventual champion North Battleford Beavers by the score of 14-4.
Noble, who also serves as the president of the Prince Albert Minor Baseball Association, says it was a great weekend for baseball in the city.
“It’s awesome to have two provincial championships here in town. The atmosphere at the ball diamonds here is awesome. Times of people, lots of compliments on the facilities. Very proud of the organization.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
