Although the championship game didn’t go the way the U15 AA Prince Albert Royals would’ve hoped, it was still a successful weekend.
The Royals posted a 3-1 record with wins over the Meadow Lake Sox, Tisdale Rangers and Sask 5 Giants before falling 5-4 in the championship game to the Saskatoon A’s.
Royals head coach Graham McGregor says Prince Albert gave it their all during the weekend, including fighting back to within a run during the championship game.
“They battled hard all weekend. They had a couple really good wins. In this game, we just let it slip a little bit at the end. We had a chance to come back until the very end and it just didn’t work out for us today.”
Prince Albert started the weekend with a 12-8 victory over the Meadow Lake Sox on Saturday morning. The Royals would be locked in a back-and-forth affair with the Tisdale Rangers on Saturday afternoon, but a two-run walk off home run from Criseyde Borthwick gave Prince Albert an 11-10 win in their final at-bat.
The Royal bats came alive in Sunday morning’s game as Prince Albert rallied to a 13-1 victory over the SaskFive Giants. Prince Albert would strike for six runs in the second inning including a pair of home runs from Owen Tolley-Procyk and Declan Borthwick.
Prince Albert would take an early 2-0 lead in the championship game and Jaxson Robertson would hold the Saskatoon bats at bay early on.
McGregor says he was very pleased with the effort he got out of his starter on Sunday.
“J.R. is a horse. He throws the ball hard every time out. So, he’s very consistent and very dependable. We know what we’re going to get with him. He pitched a great game today.”
Saskatoon would rally to take a 5-3 lead after five innings, chasing Robertson from the game who would be relieved by Carter Krip.
The Royals would come within a run in the sixth inning as Krip would score on a wild pitch.
Krip wins Home Run Derby at Lew Hobson Grand Slam
As part of the Lew Hobson Grand Slam Weekend the Prince Albert Royals hosted a Home Run Derby on Saturday night at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex.
Royals player Carter Krip came away the champion of the derby after hitting two home runs on five pitches in the final round.
Krip explained that he was confident because of the diamond selected for the derby.
“I have been out at the diamonds for, like, every day of the week with my brother practicing, he throws me 100 balls day and I hit them over,” Krip said.
“I have been doing this for nine years at this field,” he added.
Krip explained that he was able to find his home run motion in the three test swings each round. The two home runs on the final round were his least.
“I was getting a little nervous on the last one. But I think you have got to win this.”
The final four were Krip, North East Knight Jaxon Blevins, Tisdale Ranger Taylor Coleman and Meadow Lake Sox player Rayden Napesis.
To advance to the final Krip hit five home runs on 10 pitches in the opening round and five home runs on five pitches in the second round.
To determine who went first in the final round after tying at one in the semi-final Napesis and Blevins used Rock Paper Scissors.
The opening round included players from every team in the tournament including the Royals, Knights, Rangers, Sox, Sask 5 Giants, East Central Dodgers, North Battleford Beavers and Saskatoon A’s.
-with files from Michael Oleksyn
sports@paherald.sk.ca
