The Yorkton Orioles鈥� 2015 Twilite Maxi (35-plus) Provincial run came to a rough end on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Regina Drifters 7-6 in the 鈥楢鈥� Side final at Yorkton鈥檚 Jubilee Park to finish second overall out of the 29 teams that had originally started the tournament back on Friday morning.
The 7-6 loss came after the Orioles ripped off four straight victories in the 鈥楢鈥� Side bracket to advance to the final, first knocking off the Windthorst Pirates 9-5 to open the tournament before slaying the Weyburn Beavers 4-3 in walk-off fashion in the second round.
The 4-3 win moved the Orioles into the 鈥楢鈥� Side quarterfinal round where they took on the Carnduff Barons for the right to battle the defending Provincial champion Wawota Royals in the semi-finals.
The Orioles got off on the right foot scoring in the first inning before adding five more over the next five innings while holding the Barons to just three runs of their own, doubling up Carnduff 6-3 for their third straight victory.
The 6-3 victory gave the Orioles the opportunity to take on the team that everyone wanted to beat: the defending champion Wawota Royals.
Yorkton took full advantage of their opportunity, using their talented pitching corps to silence the Wawota bats in a 5-0 shutout victory. 鈥淲e wanted to take a shot at the champs so that was a big game for us,鈥� said Orioles鈥� coach Chris Wyatt following the completion of the tournament. 鈥淚t was a very hard-fought game but we played pretty much error-free ball and got the win.鈥�
The win meant the Orioles were moving on to the 鈥楢鈥� Side championship against the powerful Regina Drifters, who had until that point decimated every team in their path.
The two teams let their nerves get the better of them in the first inning as both clubs managed to put up six runs in their opening foray at the plate, but from then on it was the pitching and defence that took centre stage as both teams struggled to mount any sort of offensive attack.
A run in the top of the fifth inning gave the Drifters a 7-6 lead; a lead that the Orioles could not come back from in their final at-bat as Regina ringer Ben Van Iderstine - a former nine-year minor pro baseball player 鈥� shut the door, striking out the final three Yorkton batters to seal Regina鈥檚 2015 Provincial title. 鈥淭he Regina Drifters are a really good ball squad and they鈥檝e been playing baseball together for quite a few years,鈥� Wyatt said, continuing, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a very good team and we hung in there with them all game.鈥�
Overall Wyatt said he鈥檚 happy with the way the Orioles performed all weekend long, despite coming just short of their goal. 鈥淭he guys really gelled together this weekend,鈥� offered Wyatt. 鈥淲e had great defence and pitching all weekend long and I can鈥檛 say anything bad about this weekend.
鈥淚 work with a great group of men here, we do a lot in the community and I鈥檓 just proud of these guys.鈥�
In addition, Wyatt said that while the Orioles do a lot for the community, the community, more specifically the baseball community, also pulled together and helped the Orioles out this past weekend selling canteen items, doing 50/50 sales and taking care of the diamonds. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 say enough about both Melville and Yorkton, the kids, the volunteers and the diamond maintenance people. We had a lot of rain and we kept this tournament on track and I鈥檓 very, very thankful that we had those people in place because they made this tournament go.
鈥淭here was a lot of water here and we were still able to play ball on Saturday so my hat goes off to them.鈥�
Wyatt then thanked the 麻豆传媒AVeast Senior Baseball League (SESBL) teams for allowing the Orioles to play a half schedule in preparation for the 2015 Maxi Provincials, saying: 鈥淚鈥檓 glad the teams in the SESBL allow us into their league and let us play them once because it鈥檚 a really good warm-up for this tournament.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a great group of guys in that league and there are good teams so it鈥檚 nice, competitive baseball and while we鈥檙e a little bit older we鈥檙e all still very competitive and playing against the SESBL teams definitely helps us here.鈥�
In total there were a total of聽 23 players rostered with the 2015 Yorkton Orioles Provincial runners up. Those players are: Chris Wyatt, Justin Yawney, Darren Wandy, Greg Pelechaty, Jeff Bahrey, Tom Cook, Mark Leik, Darcy Boychuk, Jason Waldbauer, Jerry Kobylka, Ambrose Allin, Chris Newans, Derek Derkatch, Mark Oliver, Jody Hauta, Greg Andreychuk, Trevor Wallin, Ryan Kitchen, Darryl Knash, Chris Soos, Darryl Flunder, Mike Chillog and Terry Cumming.
