The Prince Albert U17 Astros made the most of their opportunity to represent Saskatchewan on the national stage.
Prince Albert concluded their tournament on Sunday with an 8-0 loss to the Tara Twins from Ontario in their first playoff game on Saturday morning in Surrey, BC.
Head coach Neil Finch says it was a great tournament for the Astros to be a part of.
“They had a pretty good week overall. We went there and competed just like I thought we would. We were one strike away from finishing four and one and getting a double life. That was our last round robin game and if we would’ve won that game, we were up 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh, that would’ve given us our double life. That’s how close teams are.”
The Astros finished pool play with a 3-2 record with victories over the host Cache Creek Chaos, Team Newfoundland and the Napanee Express.
Prince Albert held a slim one run lead in their final round robin game on Friday afternoon, but couldn’t hold off the Elmira Heat who rallied in the seventh inning to win the game 2-1.
The Astros couldn’t recover from the heart breaking loss which Finch says played a factor in how the team played on Saturday.
“I think it absolutely did. I don’t think we realized as a coaching staff that it was going to as much, but we came out pretty flat in that playoff game and that was really the only game we came out flat. Everything else we were quite geared up for.”
Prince Albert was one of two teams from Saskatchewan to make the trip to the tournament, the other being the Valley Blue Jays.
Finch says he was proud of the way his team represented both the province and the city of Prince Albert throughout the tournament.
“It means a lot. You’re very proud of what you’re doing and we talk about being professional ball players when we’re on the field and off the field, and I thought the kids did a very good job of that.”
Finch added that he wants his team to remember the experience of playing in the tournament, despite falling short of their ultimate goal.
“We talked about it at the end. Just all the players talked about the memories they have, and that’s both on and off the field. That’s what you want them to take away is just the good memories they have of being there as a team. You have ball memories, but you have (all) off the field memories as well together.”
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