Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
It wasn’t that long ago that a waiting list was needed when the Prince Albert Minor Softball Association sent out a call for entries for its spring tournament. That is no longer the case, but regardless of declining participation numbers the 17 teams that were entered in the Grand Slam event held at Max Power Ball Park at Prime Ministers’ Park on the weekend were competitive and entertaining.
The event was basically three small round-robin tournaments featuring boy’s teams in three age divisions – U13, U15 and U17. The Astros organization had one team in each age class with all accomplishing the same goal: knocking off winter rust.
“It was our first tournament of the season so we are really just working on getting game ready,” noted U13 Astros manager Ryan Gareau. “It was a great tournament with even competition.”
The U13 division had eight teams entered with two pools of four playing a round-robin affair against the teams from the opposite pool for a total of four games each.
The U13 Astros got off to a shakey start losing 17-10 to Parkland U13 Green and 19-1 to Parkland U13 Blue before rebounding with 12-6 and 13-11 decisions over Langham and Parkland U11, respectively.
With there not being enough teams to form a league the Astros will be relying on tournament action to prepare for provincials, which will be held in Shell Lake in mid-July. Next up for the U13 squad is a trip to Dundurn in two weeks.
The U15 division had just three clubs competing with a double-round robin format filling out the schedule.
“It was a great start to the season,” says U15 Astros manager Brad Casavant. “It gave us an opportunity to swing the bats.”
“The majority of this team has been together since U11 so we have a really good group,” Casavant added.
The U15 Astros showed that their pitching and hitting were already in mid-season form as they swept through their games beating Wadena 19-1 and 10-1 and Parkland 5-1 and 13-2.
Similar to the U13 Astros the U15 club will be busy with a tournament schedule over the next month in preparation for hosting provincials on July 3-5. The club will be heading to Shell Lake and Fishing Lake (Wadena) in the next several weeks hoping that that will be enough to prepare them for provincials where if they finish in the top two they will advance to the national tournament slated for August 5-9 in Surrey. B.C.
The final tournament held on the weekend featured five U17 teams with the Astros going 3-1 in their games against the other entries.
The U17 Astros outscored Okanese 12-7 in their opening contest and then blanked Wadena 5-0 and outlasted Saskatoon 11-9 before falling 12-5 to Laird in their final outing.
“It (the Grand Slam) was exactly what we wanted it to be,” said U17 Astros manager Neil Finch. “We knocked off the rust and the kids were smiling and playing ball; what more can you ask for.”
“Overall it was a great day with fun competitive ball,” added Finch. “We did some great things and we also have some items to work on which was expected.”
Next up for the U17 Astros is a tournament in Laird in mid-June. The club also plays in the men’s league for added practise with a trip to nationals in early August the ultimate goal.
