Last week the 18U AA Prince Albert Royals faced a do or die situation to get into provincials.
They had to win their next five games in five days order to hope to finish in the top eight in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League or get knocked out of playing in Baseball Saskatchewan’s Tier 1 Provincial Championship.
There are still two more weeks left in the SPBL regular season, but Sunday, July 6 was the deadline determine the top 8 of the 14 teams in the league that would move on to tier 1 Provincials in Estevan July 25 to 27.
Royals’ head coach Troy Semenchuk said that the team has come together to get to this point.
“It has been great,” he said. “We really anticipated having a good team this year. We had a really tough schedule early. We lost quite a few one or two run games, we split with some teams but finished a little behind them because of the runs for and against, but it’s been a good season. We’re looking to finish above .500.
“We’ll find out in the next few days where we’re seeded for the Tier 1AA provincials. There’s eight teams that go down to Estevan and looking at it based on how we’ve played those teams, we could finish anywhere from five to seven as a seed,” he added.
On Wednesday July 2, the Royals faced the Sask Five Giants at home and picked up a 6–3 victory.
On July 5, the Royals traveled to Marysburg for a double header against the East Central Red Sox winning the first game 7-4 then doubling up the Red Sox 22-11 in game two.
On July 6, the Regina Wolfpack came to Prince Albert for a double header. The Royals won the first game 13-10.
With one more game needed to put them into contention for a Top 8 ranking, Carter Martin took the mound. It a total team effort the Royals’ bats came alive to support Martin’s stellar performance on the mound as he pitched a complete for a convincing 15 – 5 win over the Wolfpack.
Semenchuk said the team has been achieving their goals and look to do so again at provincials.
“Our goal right from the start of the season was to finish in the in the top half of our league and it was to play a meaningful baseball game on Sunday at provincials,” he said. “That goal hasn’t changed. Last year we got this team to tier one AA provincials in Battleford and it’s the first time that a lot of those kids who have graduated have gone to tier one AA provincials. It was an eye opener, and it was a learning experience. We’re really looking to build off that this year and play a meaningful game on Sunday.”
The Royals five consecutive wins in the 5 days before the cutoff propelled them into the top eight to earn them a birth into tier 1 Provincial Championships.
The team has eight 2008-born and a few 2009–born players have developed chemistry.
“I just think that we’ve got a very tight knit group,” Semenchuk said. “We got a couple of guys graduating this year. It’s great for them to go (to provincials).”
They are also adding Nash Noble and Noah Van Otterloo from the U15 AA Royals for the tournament.
“It’ll be a great experience for them. They were super excited when they got the call too. We’re taking an extra pitcher and an extra catcher and we’re thrilled to have those guys come with us. They’ll really fit into what we’re doing, and it’s going to be great,” Semenchuk said. The Royals next action in regular league play was Wednesday night in Martensville against the Sask Five Giants. They will close out the regular season at home on Tuesday, July 15 against the North Battleford Beavers. michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
