“The midget ‘AAA’ league in Saskatchewan is a strong league itself, but this tournament will have the best talent at its level in western Canada with all of these teams picking up top notch players.”
— Committe chair Mark Jacobs
After over half a year of planning, Yorkton’s Jubilee Park is finally set to host two high-level baseball tournaments this weekend with both the Midget ‘AAA’ Western Championships and Peewee Girls’ Western Championships making their way to the city this weekend.
“We got talking back in November or December about what we needed to do,” said Head of the Organizing Committee for the 2015 Western Championships Mark Jacobs. “We had a lot to do like getting hotels booked which Deb (Bieber) did a great job doing.
“We also had to organize travel for some teams to and from the airport, getting sponsors for the tournament and program which Darryl (Struble) and Stefan (Bymak) did very well and setting up nearly everything for the tournaments.”
The committee also opted to take on an extra tournament, bringing the Peewee Girls’ Western Championships to Yorkton after the competition could not find a host.
In total 10 teams, six midget boy’s teams and four peewee girl’s squads, representing the four Western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) will be in Yorkton for the weekend with the midget boys’ tournament showcasing some of the best midget-aged (15-17) baseball players in not only the Western provinces, but the country as well. “The midget ‘AAA’ league in Saskatchewan is a strong league itself, but this tournament will have the best talent at its level in western Canada with all of these teams picking up top notch players, ” offered Jacobs, adding that the teams were also able to bolster their rosters with handpicked players from throughout their provinces. “These teams have also been able to add some extra players from teams that didn’t qualify, including ones that represented their province at the Canada Cup, so this tournament should be a showcase of some great baseball talent.”
Jacobs knows what he is talking about as well, seeing as he’s not only a member of the committee, but a former competitor at the midget ‘AAA’ Western level. “I’ve played in a couple back in my midget days and I went to the one last year as the Chef de Mission for Team Saskatchewan in Chilliwack and I don’t think people realize how great the baseball is.
“It’s top notch baseball with the best midget players from the province and western Canada and I think people around here should be coming out for that.”
The ‘AAA’ Midget tournament gets underway tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:30p.m. as the Saskatchewan representative Northwest Pirates take on the Manitoba’s North Winnipeg Pirates on Diamond One (WMBL Diamond) while the St. Albert Cardinals (Alberta) and St. James A’s (Manitoba) play on Diamond Two.
The host Parkland Expos take the field at 8:00p.m. tomorrow night against the B.C. representative Parksville Royals while the Peewee girls don’t play until Friday with action beginning on Diamond Three at 2:30pm.
Admission is 10 dollars for one day or 25 dollars for the entire weekend.
