Teams from across the Lakeland spent a weekend on ball diamonds in various communities over the weekend, playing in year-end final tournaments.
St. Paul hosted the Rookie and Squirtt categories, while the Mosquito teams went to Cold Lake, Peewee boys travelled to Elk Point, the Bantam boys went to Goodfish Lake, the Mite teams went to Pierceland, the Peewee girls headed to Bonnyville, and the Bantam girls went to Plamondon.
On the girls’ side, the Peewee girls’ team from St. Paul took top spot in the league finals, after going undefeated through the season.
Simply put, “the girls played great,” said coach Gerry Jean, after the weekend tournament. The girls had a strong showing in the team’s first game, but had to pull together during the second game after being down in the first inning.
“That second one was a good game, they had a 3-0 lead on us in the first inning and we had to fight back,” said Jean, who has been coaching this group of girls for a few years now.
This will be the third year the team heads to provincials together, which will take place on July 14 and 15, in Irma.
This year, St. Paul Minor Ball had four Mosquito boys’ teams. The teams all travelled to Cold Lake for their weekend tournament. After going undefeated in regular season play, it would be the St. Paul 2 team that claimed the title as league champions, Sunday evening.
“As a coaching staff at this age, wins and losses aren’t the main focus,” says head coach of the St. Paul 2 team, Joe Young. “It’s about learning the proper fundamentals and repeating them throughout the summer, and ultimately having fun.”
After taking wins against Cold Lake and St. Lina on Saturday, St. Paul 2 found itself up against another St. Paul team in the semi-finals Sunday afternoon, St. Paul 3. The match-up meant that St. Paul would be represented in the A final, regardless of the outcome.
The semi-final game was also the first time the two teams met up all season. In the end, St. Paul 1 would take the win, 15-7, and head to the finals against Bonnyville.
St. Paul would keep its undefeated streak alive, and win this year’s league championship.
While the win was nice, and the boys walked away with smiles on their faces, Young says the best feeling is seeing the young athletes already getting excited about next season.
“There’s nothing like the kids coming up to you, looking forward to next season.”
The Bantam boys’ team also made their way to the A finals and had a strong showing over the weekend. Despite only winning a couple games through the regular season, the boys went 3-0 to make it to the A finals, held in Goodfish Lake.
The team would lose to Lac La Biche in their final game, to take second place.
Complete results from each of the weekend tournaments were not available as of the Journal’s press deadline.
