The Yorkton Orioles came up a bit short in their bid for a national 43-plus Canadian baseball championship.
The local team, bolstered by a quartet of players from Lockwood, SK, and former Yorkton resident Todd Schafer who joined the team from the Northwest Territories, made it as far as the quarter finals in Medicine Hat, AB., the July 29 weekend.
In game one of the round-robin the Orioles dropped a 6-2 decision to Westlock, AB.
“They were the eventual champions,” noted Oriole Chris Wyatt.
Yorkton rebounded from the loss in their second game with a 15-0 win over Canmore, AB.
In game three the Oriole bats stayed hot as they won 15-8 over Kindersley.
“That put us in the playoffs on the ‘A’ side,” said Wyatt.
The Orioles would again face Canmore, the team they had soundly defeated in the round robin. However, the Alberta team would have its revenge defeating Yorkton 12-2 and ending the Oriole hopes.
“This was our first nationals,” said Wyatt, who added the team came together through the event. “The group of guys we had got along pretty well.”
With the experience of Medicine Hat to now draw on, Wyatt has his eyes set on the nationals in Hamilton, ON. in 2017., both at the 35-plus and 43-plus levels. He said between Yorkton and Melville there is solid potential to pull together solid teams at both levels.
That said, Wyatt said the big thing is getting the games in many contending teams do. He pointed to the Burlington team which has a 35 and over league with a dozen teams. Medicine Hat has one with four.
