The 2015 Western Canadian Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Championship and 2015 Western Canadian Peewee 鈥楢A鈥� Girls鈥� Championship have come and gone in Yorkton with little to no problems for the organizing committee.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have any glitches,鈥� said Yorkton Minor Baseball president Darryl Struble following the completion of the final baseball game of the weekend. 鈥淭he closest thing we had was that rain Friday night and Saturday morning that went through, but that鈥檚 something that we couldn鈥檛 control.鈥�
The rain originally looked to put a damper on things, however the grounds crew made up entirely of volunteers did their job admirably and were able to get the tournaments running again smoothly; something that did not go unappreciated by some of the visiting baseball teams.
鈥淎 couple of the BC coaches said they were very impressed with how we managed, even with that rain, to get back on time,鈥� offered Struble, continuing, 鈥淲e were back on time by the afternoon games. We didn鈥檛 lose a game and they were very impressed with how we ran the tournament.
鈥淭hey were quite impressed so that told me that we did a good job.鈥�
In fact Jim Seredick 鈥� acting head coach for the eventual Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Western champion Parksville Royals 鈥� told Yorkton This Week that he was incredibly impressed with the way the tournament was ran. 鈥淚鈥檓 very impressed. I played in Yorkton in 1968 for the Moose Jaw Regals and the facilities here are terrific,鈥� mentioned Seredick. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got multiple parks around, you鈥檙e hosting another Western championship here and that speaks volumes for the community and certainly the tournament committee. It鈥檚 a huge undertaking to take on one event but they鈥檙e doing two at the same time. Yesterday there was rain and they certainly stepped up and truly I am very impressed.
鈥淥ur kids and our coaches and parents that came out spoke very highly of the community. We鈥檙e really pleased with how everything went and we had nothing but a positive experience here.鈥�
Tournament play
The 2015 Western Canadian Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Championship saw six teams 鈥� Alberta鈥檚 St. Albert Cardinals, BC鈥檚 Parksville Royals, Manitoba鈥檚 St. James A鈥檚 and North Winnipeg Pirates, Saskatchewan鈥檚 Northwest Prairie Pirates and the host Parkland Expos 鈥� vie for the gold medal, culminating in an 11-inning contest in the gold medal game between the St. Albert Cardinals and Parksville Royals, who both finished atop the round-robin standings with identical 4-1 records.
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 11th inning, Royal slugger Adam McKillican drove a ball past the St. Albert shortstop to give the Parksville Royals a 2-1 walkoff win and the gold medal at the 2015 Western Canadian Midget 鈥楢AA鈥� Championship.
The St. Albert Cardinals finished second in the tournament while the host Parkland Expos finished in third place with a record of 3-2.
The St. James A鈥檚 finished in fourth with a 2-3 record, followed by the Northwest Pirates and North Winnipeg Pirates who both finished with records of 1-4.
Team BC took the Peewee Girls鈥� Western title as well as BC scored seven times in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 14-2 victory over Team Alberta in the gold medal game.
Team Saskatchewan won the bronze medal with a convincing 15-4 win over Team Manitoba in the four team tournament. Melville鈥檚 Lexi Fenske picked up the win in the bronze medal contest.
