Yorkton Minor Baseball (YMB) hosted the Provincial AA Bantam Championships at Jubilee park over the weekend. featuring the top bantam AA baseball teams in the province.
The Yorkton Speedy Cash Bantam Cardinals advanced to their third game with a one win, one loss record. A win would advance the team to the semi-finals. A loss would send them home.
The Bantam Cards fell behind 4-1 early in the contest.
A single run in the fifth narrowed the gap to a two-run deficit when Number 77, MacKenzie Alcorn came to the plate and pounded out a two run shot over the 265 foot centre field fence to tie the game. A single RBI in the seventh gave the Cardinals a win to advance them to the semi-final against the Prince Albert Royals Sunday morning.
The Bantam Cardinals carried a short bench of just nine players into Sunday's semi-final, putting a strain on their pitching staff.
Despite playing with a short bench, Yorkton held its own until the fifth inning when Prince Albert exploded with five runs to hang on for a win to advance to the tournament final against Swift Current.
Bantam Cardinals coach Sean Alcorn says the tournament was very successful thanks to the support of the Sask. Baseball Association (SBA) and the help of volunteers. In particular Karen and Murray Marshall deserve a lot of the credit for the success of the weekend, suggests Alcorn.
The team had a rough start this year, primarily because of the weather. They finished strong, earning a place in the provincial semi-finals, Alcorn notes. "The boys played well. They played their hearts out," he declares.
The teams at provincials were very strong this year, Alcorn states. "This is one of the strongest Yorkton teams that we've ever had put together, so it was great," he says.
The City of Yorkton put did a great job on the diamonds.
"We have a hard time getting help with minor ball for these big events but the people who came out to help did a fantastic job," Alcorn closes.
The Royals went on to face the Swift Current Indians in the provincial final. Swift Current claimed the provincial title as tournament champs. The team advances to the 2010 AA Minor Western Canada Championship in to be played in Newton, B.C. August 12-15.
