It’s been a challenging year for the North Battleford Midget AA Beavers as a roster of younger players adapted to competing at a higher level of baseball.
However, they have a chance to finish off the year on a high note in Saskatoon, as they’ll compete in the Midget AA Division 3 provincial championships from July 21-23.
“We’re going to play a number of teams that are at the same caliber as us, so it should be a fairly wide open and competitive tournament,” Beavers coach Bert Benoit said. “There will be teams from Meadow Lake, Prince Albert and Yorkton in attendance, along with a couple from Saskatoon.
“We’ve seen Meadow Lake and were within a run against them, and we held our own against the two teams from Saskatoon during our games earlier this season.”
Prior to the provincials, the Beavers are scheduled to attend the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League’s year-end tournament on July 14 and 15 in Regina, but it’s still to be determined if that event will take place or not.
“There’s a lot of provincials that are taking place in Regina so they aren’t sure if they will have enough umpires for our tournament there,” Benoit said. “We’re hoping to find out Monday if they will be moving the tournament to another location, keeping it in Regina or not having it at all.
“In the meantime, we have a bunch of exhibition games planned. We hosted Macklin on Wednesday night and we’re going to play them at their diamond Thursday. If that league event doesn’t happen, we will either host a three-team tournament over a couple of days next weekend or we will travel up to Meadow Lake and have it there.”
The SPBL season was a tough one for the Beavers, as they finished with a 1-18 record and picked up their only league win at Beaver Lions Stadium on May 27 in a 13-5 affair with the Regina Blue Jays.
“It was still a great learning experience for the guys in every game that we played,” Benoit said. “They kept up a good positive attitude over the course of the season and they were never discouraged.
“They all realized that they were in for a tough time this year with so many players taking part in midget baseball for the first time, but they were able to recognize those challenges and they had fun out there. I think you’ll see a lot of improvement from our guys once next season starts with the experience that they had this year.”
As they gear up for their final games of the season, the Beavers are sticking to the basics when it comes to their practice routine.
“We’re working a lot on our hitting and our pitching at the moment,” Benoit said. “Being able to go deep into pitch counts is something that we have been really focusing on with our players as of late.
“One of the things that our entire coaching staff is happy about is how well the guys are hitting the ball. We’ve really come a long way in that part of the game.”
The Beavers will also have some new faces on their rosters as they are planning to bring in a couple of players from Edam and Glaslyn for the provincial tournament.
“It gives us a few more options when it comes to our lineup, especially as they are both good pitchers,” Benoit said.
“With the pitch counts that are in effect and the fact that you can’t have a pitcher be a catcher in another game during the day, having those guys joining us will help us when it comes to roster flexibility.”
