Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
Intense heat, strong winds, swarms of mosquitoes and even a smattering of rain didn’t get in the way of the Prince Albert Softball Association from hosting a hugely successful Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament on the weekend at Max Power Ball Park in Prime Ministers’ Park.
“Everything went very smooth (weatherwise),” acknowledged tournament co-ordinator Amy Fiddler when the dust had settled on Sunday. “The smoke stayed away; it was a great weekend.”
In addition to her role as tournament organizer, Fiddler also coached the U13 Aces and that too was a resounding success as they went undefeated following an 8-1 triumph over the Moose Jaw Ice to claim top prize in that age category.
“It’s very early in the year, but they were all good games,” says Fiddler. “It was very strong competition.”
With two pools of three set up for the preliminary round-robin portion of the tournament, the Aces beat the Melfort Spirit 9-1, Twin City Angels from Warman and Martensville 12-11 and Moose Jaw 2-1 to finish first in their pool and claim the top seed for the playoffs. The Aces then outscored the Battlefords Bandits 16-11 in one semi-final while Moose Jaw blasted the Angels 11-0 in the other to set up the showdown for the gold medal.
Another local squad also had a shot at gold-medal glory, but the Moose Jaw Ice took top prize with a narrow 5-4 victory over the Aces in the U15 final.
If there was a glitch on the weekend it would be the formula for determining playoff qualifiers and Fiddler admits there is work to be done for future years in that area.
“It was the worst-case scenario that could happen and unfortunately it happened,” said Fiddler.
Just as was the case in the U13 division, the U15 group also had six teams grouped into two pools of three. Teams played the three from the opposite pool and under current rules the top teams from each pool played each other in the semi-finals.
What happened, however, was the three teams from one pool all beat the other clubs from the other pool, and very handily in every game, but because of the way the rules were laid out, two teams that suffered a trio of lopsided defeats both moved on based on run differential while the third club from the pool that dominated play was sidelined from the playoff round.
The Prince Albert U15 Aces pose for a photo with their silver medals following the Shaye Amundson Memorial Tournament.
Take the U15 Aces for example. In preliminary play they were beat 13-1 by the Twin City Angels, 12-4 by the East Central Wolverines and 14-0 by Moose Jaw, but because their run differential was best among their pool, which also included the Maidstone Lakers and Melfort Spirit, they were given top spot for their pool.
Maidstone was awarded second spot in their pool so they played the Aces in a semi-final tilt only to lose 14-6 sending Prince Albert to the gold-medal game. Moose Jaw, which was seeded first in the pool that saw all three go undefeated, edged the second seed from that pool, the Angels, 3-2 to secure the second berth in the championship final.
“It’s unfortunate how that all happened,” admitted Fiddler. “We will have to look at that for next year.”
Two other divisions were also contested on the weekend with the Saskatoon Raiders winning the U11 title with a 2-0 victory over the Saskatoon Lasers while the Saskatoon Selects McDonald outscored the Regina Saints 9-4 to take home the U17 championship.
There were two Prince Albert entries in the U11 division, but both were winless in preliminary play while the U17 Aces got off to a strong start winning their first two games, but they dropped the next three including a 13-5 decision to the Regina Saints in semi-final play.
Aside from the scenario that unfolded in the U15 division, Fiddler says being prepared for the unexpected is something to remember going forward. She also said the namesake of the tournament is also something that can’t be forgotten.
“It’s a memorial for Shaye,” says Fiddler of the former Aces ball player who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2016. “It’s been 10 years since she has been gone and this is the sixth year for the tournament. It’s nice to have a big showing.”
“We would like to have a few more teams next year,” added Fiddler, who noted that with a few last-minute cancellations this year’s event was short by at least one team in each age class.
Proceeds from the tournament go into a scholarship fund set up in Amundson’s name with local area players looking to further their education required to put in an application to be considered for financial assistance. Those who are selected to benefit from the fund are notified early in each calendar year.
Plans for next year are already underway and Fiddler is confident that with her first attempt at organizing something of this size under her belt it will be bigger and better going forward.
