Despite a sterling regular season, the Muenster Red Sox fell short over the weekend at the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) AA championships in Melville.
The Red Sox finished the regular season in third place and were in a pool with the Northeast Red Sox, Melville Millionaires and the Regina White Sox.
Muenster started the tournament slowly with a loss to the Northeast Red Sox, setting up a must-win game against Melville. After holding a 1-0 lead throughout most of the game, Muenster gave up four runs late in the game and lost 4-1.
Muenster's last game against Regina was rained out, but the dye had already been cast due to the two previous losses.
Despite the disappointing result, there was some good news for the Red Sox as Tanner Syroteuk was named the MVP of the SPBL AA league.
The Red Sox will now move on to play in the Midget A provincial championships in Meadow Lake July 26-28.
In other baseball news, the Marysburg Royals beat the Saskatoon Blue Jays 11-1 on July 18 in Saskatoon Senior Baseball League (SSBL) action. The defence gave up no errors and Geoff and Luke Strueby led the way offensively with two hits each. Craig McWillie threw five innings and was relieved by Mathew Strueby.
The Royals were scheduled to play a doubleheader against the Saskatoon Outlaws on July 21 but the games were rained out. The team's next action will be a July 28 doubleheader in Marysburg against the Saskatoon Diggers.
With only five league games left before provincials, the Royals are still looking for some consistency on offence. Developing any sort of rhythm has been difficult with so many games cancelled due to rain.
The Royals will open their provincial schedule on Aug. 9 against the Saskatoon Stallions, then play the Diggers the next day before finishing the preliminary schedule against the Regina Capitals. The remaining schedule will depend on how the team does in those first three games.
The Senior AA championships will be held in Saskatoon.
