The Moose Mountain Mavericks emerged as winners of the 2014 Midget A Provincials Five-Team Championship held in Wawota July 25-27, with a decisive 10-4 victory over the second-place Muenster Red Sox, leaving the Kindersley Royals in third. Also competing were the Melville Millionaires and the Watrous Lakers.
The home team Mavericks roster includes players and coaching staff from Wawota,Carlyle, Grenfell, Kenosee, Kipling, Lampman, Oxbow and Redvers.
Assistant coach Stacy Schiff described the Mavericks' win as "super-fabulous" and described the final as "an all-around good defensive game."
Schiff says the game against Kindersley leading up to the final was "very tight. It went into two extra innings and we ended up scoring at the top of the ninth to win it 3-2."
Prior to their big win, Mavericks supporter Jordan Gudmundson of Carlyle said, "They've been playing pretty good all season. I hope it keeps up."
The first day of the weekend-long tournament for players 16 to18 years old began with a Friday morning coaches meeting and concluded with opening ceremonies and three games. Although the weather was threatening at times throughout the weekend, the tournament was deemed a success.
Leslie Lewis of Imperial, Sask., there to watch her son, Bennett Lewis and the Watrous team, said, "this tournament has been great. It's so well organized and it's been great in spite of the weather. The hosting is terrific and the town of Wawota has been so friendly and welcoming. The town itself is such a nice place to visit."
Schiff says the tournament would not be possible without the support and sponsorship of the Wawota Lions Club. "We'd really like to recognize what they've done. This tournament would not have been possible without their support and sponsorship."
Joel Carpenter, past president of the Wawota Lions Club says, "As a club, we like to help support community events. We've hosted previous provincial ball tournaments in Wawota. Baseball is a longsanding tradition in Wawota and we like to see it continue to thrive in the community."
Mike Ramage, Executive Director of Saskatchewan Baseball agrees that local support is key: "Obviously, local communities like Wawota and their Lions Club are very important with keeping baseball rolling across the province. Without volunteers like them, tournaments couldn't be held."
Schiff says that the Mavericks' victory is not just due to the players. "I really have to give credit to our coaching staff, Blaine Kovach of Kenosee Lake and Luke Brady of Carlyle. Blaine is a community guy who puts in his time. He brings these guys all together to play baseball and he passes on his passion for baseball and his love of the game to our team."
Schiff says the Mavericks' victory is "the year-end cap we've been pushing for all year. We're a team that comes late into the game, but the guys also battle until the very end."
"They played an all-around good defensive game this weekend and winning was awesome."
