The Parkland Expos AAA Midget baseball team rode something of a roller coaster at the AAA Midget provincial championship tournament held in Saskatoon.
“It was a lot of different things, exciting, disappointing, a lot of things,” said team manager and assistant coach Stefan Bymak.
The good things started early.
“We got off to a great start Thursday,” offered Bymak.
In the opening game of round robin action the Expos faced the Saskatoon Cubs.
“They were the second place team in the league and we really played well,” said Bymak.
That solid play started on the mound where Tyson Black, who will head south to pitch at Miles City Junior College in Montana this fall, held the Cubs at bay, leading the Expos to a 6-1 win.
“We started off the tournament on a real high,” said Bymak, who added Black was certainly among the top pitchers in the tournament.
A position supported by Black being picked up by the Muenster Red Sox for their run at the upcoming National Championship after the Sox advanced winning the provincial crown Sunday. The National event is slated for Sherbrooke, Quebec Aug, 18-22.
Thursday night the Expos met the Southeast Twins, a regional team based out of Estevan.
“We had some defensive blunders,” said Bymak, noting the Expos were down 7-2 going into their final at-bat in the seventh inning.
The Expos rallied in the seventh, scoring five to knot the contest and force extra innings.
“And then we gave up six runs in the top of the eighth,” said Bymak. “In hindsight that was the tournament.”
The six runs against hurt the Expos in terms of run differential, putting more pressure on in terms of needing wins.
Next up was another Saskatoon team, with the Expos headed to the home half of the seventh tied 3-3, but giving up a game-winning run in the bottom of the frame.
Bymak said that was really it in terms of the tournament.
“Once you take your second loss in a round robin it’s hard to make the playoffs,” he said.
And it showed as the Expos dropped their last game too.
“We just didn’t show up in the last one. It wasn’t pretty,” said Bymak, not offering a final score in the game which meant nothing to the Expos in terms of trying to advance.
Bymak said in spite of only having one win, the Expos had a much better effort at provincials than a year ago.
“This year we beat the second place team. We actually were a threat. We were in the thick of it this year,” he said.
Bymak said he has hopes the Expos, who draw from Yorkton, Melville, Langenburg, Canora and other smaller communities, continues to field an AAA Midget team, because the high level of play certainly helps players develop. He said with a few more players, they carried 14 this year, to add to the team depth the organization can take another step.
However, Bymak, and Expos head coach Tony Black will retire at season’s end, so new blood will need to take over.
“There are people interested in continuing the program,” he said, adding he and Black will certainly help in terms of transitioning to new faces at the helm of the Expos next season.
