The Prince Albert U17 Astros brought plenty of offence to U17 Men’s Canadian Fastpitch Championships in Napanee, Ont., but were outgunned in the first round of the playoffs.
The Astros trip to the national finals ended with a 12-8 playoff loss to Team Quebec. Astros head coach Neil Finch said he was happy with his team’s play during the tournament.
“I hope the boys are proud of what they accomplished,” Finch said. “They’re playing against the best in the country, and although we thought we could have ranked a little bit higher, they went out there and competed and should be proud of what they did.”
The Astros began the tournament with three-straight one-run losses, before rebounding for big wins over the Chatsworth Longhorns, and Team Newfoundland 2. They lost 8-7 to Team Quebec in their opening game on Aug. 6, followed by an 8-7 loss to the Tara Twins and a 3-2 loss to the Wilmot Thunder in their first game on Aug. 7.
“It was a tough tournament when it came to the wins and losses part of it, but the boys competed in every game,” Finch said. “In all of those games, we could have been winning, but the bounces didn’t go our way. (I’m) just really proud of the boys overall. We made it to playoffs. That was our goal.”
Prince Albert rebounded for a 12-5 win against Chatsworth and a 11-0 win over Team Newfoundland2. The last game of pool play came against Team Newfoundland 1, where they suffered a 10-0 defeat, setting up a playoff matchup with Team Quebec.
The Astros took an early lead with four runs in the top of the second, but Quebec exploded for seven runs in the bottom half of the inning and never relinquished the lead.
Quebec added four more runs in the bottom of the third to go up 11-4 before Prince Albert rallied for two in the fourth and one in the top of the fifth. Quebec added another run in the bottom of the sixth, and Prince Albert scored once more in the top of the seventh to make the final 12-8.
“We hit the ball pretty well, but made some defensive errors that cost us in the end,” Finch said.
“We had to get our stops on defence and play clean defence and then make sure that we were hitting the ball and scoring runs. I think we took care of the latter. We scored the runs we needed. We just didn’t get the stops on defence that we were hoping for.”
The host Hapanee Express defeated the Wilmot Thunder 13-2 in the final to win the championship. The Express lost only one game all tournament, a 5-4 decision to the Brookfield Elks.
The Astros were one of two Saskatchewan teams at the tournament. Treaty 4 also sent a team to the tournament. They finished 1-5, with their lone win coming in the tournament opener against the St. Joseph’s Chiefs.
