St. Paul stays classy during provincial baseball championship
Last week saw plenty of rain, but the wet weather underwent a timely dissipation during the weekend, just in time for the Baseball Alberta Midget AA Tier III Provincial Championships, held in St. Paul.
Teams from Bonnyville, Fort McMurray, Heisler, and Marwayne came to town to compete in the three-day, five-team round robin tournament that began in the early hours of Friday morning. Each game consisted of seven innings, and the St. Paul Storm opened the tournament with a 9-6 win over the Bonnyville Braves.
Opening ceremonies for the tournament were hosted later that evening, featuring a very special opening pitch thrown by Special Olympics veteran and die-hard baseball fan Robert Lamarche, who threw a perfect strike right down the middle.
St. Paul played again immediately following the ceremonies, and defeated the Heisler Jr. Cardinals 4-1.
“We've had a lot of people commenting on how things have gone this weekend,” said Rick Austin, coach of the St. Paul Storm. “The weather has been gorgeous, and every one here has just had an awesome time.”
St. Paul played its third game of the tournament on Saturday afternoon, but the boys were unable to beat the heavy-hitting Fort McMurray Oil Giants, whose roster also contained players from Athabasca.
Both Fort McMurray and Bonnyville ended the round robin portion of the tournament with a record of 3-1, and so St. Paul's final game of the championship was a do-or-die matchup against the Marwayne Huskies on Sunday. A win would give them a spot in a semi-final tiebreaker against Fort McMurray, while a loss would see them eliminated early.
The Storm came out strong on Sunday afternoon, looking good on both offense and defense. Evan Langager was a standout factor in the first half of the game. He took to the mound and pitched a stellar few innings, and also made a phenomenal sliding catch deep in left field - perhaps the finest catch of the tournament.
After three innings, St. Paul had a commanding 6-0 lead.
But the Storm ran into trouble in the fourth inning. Eight consecutive Marwayne players made it to base, and the Huskies scored four runs in that inning. They seemed to get under St. Paul’s skin and dominated from then on. After five innings, the game was all tied up at six runs apiece.
St. Paul scored a seventh run at the top of the sixth, and held Marwayne off the scoreboard until the bottom of the seventh and final inning. The Huskies managed to load the bases, spelling trouble for the Storm. On the very next pitch, the Huskies hit a perfect ball deep into center field, and a runner scored, ending the game and the tournament for St. Paul by a score of 8-7.
Fort McMurray and Bonnyville played in the final game of the tournament, and Bonnyville came away victorious, winning the game 12-6 and taking this year’s provincial championship title.
“After our last game, both Rick and myself gathered the boys together,” said St. Paul assistant coach Nav Atwal. “It's tough to lose like that, especially when you're the hosts, but we wanted to tell each and every one of the boys that they played amazing baseball all weekend long.
Personally, it's been a pleasure to coach these guys this season. They have so much passion for the game, and they're so dedicated. They're classy guys. They love playing together, and they treat everyone, not just their teammates with the utmost respect, and I couldn't be prouder of them.”
