The best Yorkton and Melville has to offer in bantam baseball teamed up for zone provincials a couple weeks ago.
Even though the Zone 4 club ended up losing in the bronze match with a 1-4 record, head coach Aaron Elmy was very proud of his club's efforts.
"The boys played excellent," said Elmy. "All players contributed in one way or another and it was a very positive experience for everyone involved. We had great defence, great pitching and some strong at bats at every spot in the line up."
In Game 1 against Zone 1, which consisted of Weyburn, Carlyle and Estevan, the Zone 4 boys couldn't string up enough hits to score some runs, losing 1-0.
In Zone 4's second contest, they fell short 8-6 against Zone 5, Muenster. Cole Rathgeber with four stolen bases and Caleb Bymak with two homeruns shined the brightest for the Â鶹´«Ã½AV East club.
The third time was the charm for Zone 4. Tyson Bymak and Kaito Farquarson's strong pitching led to them dusting Zone 6, Saskatoon, 8-3 in their third contest.
"The highlight for us was definitely beating Saskatoon," said Elmy. "When you combine Yorkton and Melville you get a population that is not even close to Saskatoon's 300,000 people and our best beats their best with an exclamation point, that is something to be proud of."
The 1-2 record placed Zone 4 in second spot in their pool. This meant they would have to play a tiebreaker game against Regina. In that match, Zone 4 came close but fell 8-5 when it was all said and done.
Despite Cole Rathgeber only making one mistake behind the mound, which cost him a two-run home run in the third inning, Zone 4 fell 4-2 in the bronze medal game to Zone Swift Current. At times Zone 4 threatened, but couldn't pull together crucial runs with them leaving seven runners stranded throughout the game.
The tournament is set up for Sask Baseball to identify the top players in the province. Elmy believes there were a handful of players on his squad that caught the attention of the baseball program.
"I know there are five to six players on our team that will be considered for the Sask First Program," he said.
