After advancing to the SESBL Championship Series, the Yorkton Yankees wrapped up a busy week by hosting the AA Senior Baseball Provincials at Jubilee Park over the weekend. The Yankees opened the tournament with a tough 8-7 loss to the Saskatoon Outlaws before dropping their next game to effectively eliminate them from championship contention in pool play. The Yankees however did wrap up their weekend on a positive note by winning their final pool game and ending their provincial bid with one win and two losses, leaving their SESBL final with the Willowbrook Royals as their chance at ending their season with championship hardware. That series has yet to go underway at the time of writing, but is expected to go underway immediately with a potential five games to be played in between Willowbrook and Yorkton for the best of five championship series.
The championship game of the AA provincials saw the Holdfast Trappers and the Marysburg Royals square off with a bid to Westerns in Winnipeg on the line. Despite Holdfast looking like the team to beat after coming out of a much better group than Marysburg, the Royals opened up the scoring in the top of the first and looked like they were on their way to the title. However, Holdfast dug deep and got a bounce back from their starting pitcher who gave them a complete game effort, allowing the Trappers to get back into the game. Eventually the Trappers offense prevailed and the second place Regina league squad took a 4-2 championship victory, ending the Royals hopes and sending them to Westerns in Winnipeg August 23-27.
The Trappers who as mentioned play in Regina's senior league, benefited from having a solid lineup before adding four of the best players in the Regina league to bolster their provincial/western squad. Manager Colin Back mentioned that coming out of the group was probably the tougher challenge for the Trappers as "Every team was tough, and we thought that if we made it out of the group we would have a real good chance at winning the whole thing." Back also mentioned that getting complete games from both of their starting pitchers in the semi-final and final was huge for the team in a level of baseball that usually doesn't see solid pitching, with high scoring contests and multiple relievers being the norm. Canora product Derek Derkatch gave a solid complete game outing for the Trappers on the mound in playoff play.
Back mentioned that the Trappers season in the Regina league is also still underway as they have a few more playoff games before setting their sights on the Western title on August 23-27 where they have the chance to give Saskatchewan bragging rights. With the pitching the Trappers were getting in Yorkton this weekend, the sky is the limit for the Regina area ballclub.
