The Saskatchewan Games, which took place between July 29 and Aug. 4, had Team South East do very well. The baseball team, coached by Ken King of Carlyle, Blaine Kovach of Kenosee Lake, and Dave Lemieux of Carlyle, fought hard to take home a bronze medal from the competition.
This team was made up many from the South East including a few from our own area including Preston Hutt (Lampman), Dustin Schill (Wawota), Kirkland Chalus (Carlyle), and Talen King (Carlyle). Others on the medal winning team consist of Jesse Mack (Macoun), Brandon Hutt (Tribune), Mitchell Clark (Estevan), Carson Perkins (Bienfait), Colton Gingras (Estevan), Drew Fellner (Weyburn), Cam Evans (Weyburn), Griffin Keller (Pilot Butte), Boston Wanner (White City), Alex Galloway (Pilot Butte), and Nolan Legien (White City).
The boys took the bus to Meadow Lake on Sunday, July 29. Their games then took place between July 30 and Aug. 1. Much skill and hard work was put into showcasing their abilities.
Game play saw the boys lose a single game in round robin play to Saskatoon. From here they were in a semi-final game against Regina, which was a hard fought battle. Just missing out on the gold medal match they played for the bronze against Team Saskatoon. This time they were able to score the runs against them for the win allowing them to take home the medal.
In addition to general game play Saskatchewan Baseball hosted its Bantam Selects Program in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Games. The Bantam Selects Program is hosted each year and it made sense to the organizations to combine the two this year since the games were on.
The Bantam Selects Program identifies and evaluates the elite players in the province in order to form a Team Saskatchewan for the Midget Baseball Canada Cup next year.
"This is a stepping stone to college opportunities The zones for the two line up, so it made sense for them to hold them together," King explained, "Saskatchewan ball was clear that winning was not the priority, but showcasing the players was most important. There was not the emphasis on winning there. You would have never known that though by the intensity of our team."
It was a great experience for all of the boys who thoroughly enjoyed the tournament. They played hard and were able to succeed in winning the bronze medal.
