The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Association is proud to announce the selection of the Wawota Pats Baseball Team to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Team Category, Saturday, August 19, 2017 in Battleford, Saskatchewan.
The community of Wawota has had senior level baseball since 1915, with the exception of the war years. The team had many players over the years with their most successful season found competing in many tournaments in three different senior leagues. The team would often play in two tournaments a week, usually in Southeast Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba. Their best season showed a record of winning 44 games with 6 losses. At one point they won 5 consecutive tournaments.
The Wawota Pats Baseball Team was formed in 1951 and has played continuously until the present time. Currently they play in a nine team Southeast Senior League.
The late Lyle Weatherald was the first coach of the Pats and continued coaching the team for the next 20 years. The first players were Bantam and Midget age, but they competed in the senior category. For the past 65 years the Pats have competed in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota, being one of the most competitive teams for the majority of these years.
The Pats were the 1970 Saskatchewan Provincial Champions, at a time when all senior teams competed in one category, with the exception of the Northern and Southern Saskatchewan Leagues that hired players. Baseball at that time drew big crowds with one tournament in the small community of Bellegarde drawing 23 senior teams playing on the baseball diamonds. The Pats were in the final where the game was called off due to darkness in a 0-0 tie.
From 1952 to 2015, Pats players and players from a second Wawota senior team combined to make a team that competed for the area.
Their successes include winning the 1972 Saskatchewan Intermediate Championship as the Cardinals, the 1995 Provincial Senior AA Championship and the Western Canadian Silver Medal in 1995 and the 2005 Saskatchewan Senior A Champions.
Several members of the Pats have also played on Wawota Twilite baseball teams at the Mini, Maxi and the Masters tournaments winning several provincial titles.
