It is official. For the first time since 2003, the Weyburn Beavers have qualified for the Western Major Baseball League playoffs. Even with the last regular season games finishing up this week, the Beavers had enough wins over Yorkton to place third in the east division.The first round of the WMBL playoffs will start Friday, July 30, with a best-of-five format. It is expected that the Beavers will ranked up against the Regina Red Sox, who claimed first in the east division. While not all the playoffs schedules were finalized by publishing deadlines, it was reported that the Beavers would be in Regina on Friday night, then host the Red Sox at Tom Laing Park on July 31.Right now, we have been playing pretty good baseball. We really focused in on our own abilities to play, instead of waiting for Yorkton to lose a game, said head coach Terry Smith. It was absolutely important to win those two games against Yorkton, so we won't have to worry about a dog fight and have some breathing room as we now plan for playoffs.The Beavers had been in Regina for a regular season game on July 25, which they lost 5-1. The Beavers claimed their one run in the first inning, scored by Kenneth Rowan. They kept that slight lead until the bottom of the fourth when the Red Sox scored two runs.The Red Sox were able to score three more runs in the game, to secure the victory. On the mound for the Beavers was Phil Curtis and Micky Bullard.Two important games against the Yorkton Cardinals were won by the Beavers on July 21 and July 22. Before these games, the Cardinals and Beavers had been tied for third place. The Beavers had trampled the Cardinals 17-1 in their first night of action. Six runs were taken early by the Beavers in the first inning, and then in the third inning they added seven more runs to their lead. For the next three innings, the game remained 13-1 for the Beavers.Another three runs were earned by the Beavers in the seventh, with one run scored in the eighth. On the mound, Alex Gale kept the Cardinals to one run for seven innings. He was relieved by Eric Evans.In their next game, the Beavers had a 5-1 victory against the Cardinals. The game had been scoreless for four innings, then the Cardinals scored one run in the fifth inning.Not wanting to lose their chance at the playoffs, the Beavers rallied in the sixth inning and were able to score five runs. With neither team scoring in the last three innings, the game was won by the Beavers. On the mound for the whole nine innings was Jesse Elam.One particular impressive run was unearned, after Erik Scott stole home base. We already had a little rally going, and I was able to make it to third on one of their overthrows. So then watching the Yorkton catcher, I noticed that he didn't look at me. Our batter was staying in at the plate too, so I told myself that if our runner at first didn't go for the steal that I would go for it.To complete their regular season, the Beavers had hosted Saskatoon on Tuesday night, and will host them again tonight, July 28 at Tom Laing Park.As they now prepare for the playoffs, the Beavers will be facing a great ball club, said Smith. It is always fun to play against Regina. The coaches and players are good, they have a lot of class and always play hard. We are hoping for great crowds for the playoffs.One of the main goal for the first round of the playoffs is for the Beavers stay strong. We can't take it lightly. We got to let them know we are ready to go all the way, said Scott. We got to keep hitting strong and keep hot on the mound.
