The Southeast Legacy midget AAA Twins finished in the middle of the pack at the Midget AAA Selects Tournament on May 15 to 17 in Saskatoon.
The Twins tied the Saskatoon Cubs 8-8 in their first game, lost to the Okotoks Red 16-7 in their follwing game, and had 9-4 and 13-7 wins over the Saskatoon Diamondbacks and Regina Athletics in their final games.
The tournament featured 12 teams with four pools of three teams.
They began with round-robin matches and then games were played based on those standings.
In the Twins’ first game against the Cubs on May 15, coach Blaine Kovach said they jumped out to an eight-run lead after the first few innings, but failed to keep the lead.
“We slowly let them back into it and our pitchers just kind of lost control of the strike zone and we ended up tying…because of that,” Kovach said.
The following day in the Twins’ final round-robin game, Okotoks jumped to an early lead. Despite trying to battle their way back into the game, the Twins couldn’t overcome the deficit.
“Right off the very bat, they (Okotoks) hit everything, they hit the ball very, very well and they didn’t stop doing that the entire game … and they just over-matched us,” Kovach added.
After the Twins finished third in the round-robin they were matched up against another third place team in pool A, the Saskatoon Diamondbacks.
In the win, Preston Hutt pitched the whole game for the Twins, and along with the pitching, coach Kovach said, the hitting was great as well.
With that victory, the Twins played the Athletics.
The Twins avenging a loss they received from the Athletics almost two weeks ago, the Twins defeated them 13-7.
“Their bats we’re on fire ... and we didn’t make very many errors,” Kovach said.
Overall, Kovach was impressed with the way his team played in the tournament.
“I’m very impressed with how the bats were alive; the guys were hitting very well which is nice to see.” Kovach said.
He also added that the defence played well, too, as they only made a few errors over the weekend.
What the Twins will work on in practice for their upcoming games is pitching control.
“They got to learn to control the zone, and they cannot, continuously, just be throwing ball after ball,” Kovach said.
He also noted the younger pitchers on the team must learn to control their emotions on the mound as well.
Next up for the Twins are a couple of doubleheaders in Estevanm on May 23 and 24, where they play the Swift Current Indians starting at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. And the next day they will play the Saskatoon Cubs at 1 p.m. and 3p.m.
