The Yorkton Yankees faced off against the Melville Bison in the first round of the SESBL playoffs. The Yankees placed fourth in final league standings and drew the fifth place Bisons and home advantage.
Due to field unavailability in Yorkton the first game was held in Melville Tuesday, July 12.
The Yankees were up 1-0 in the third inning when Melville broke the game open with four runs to lead 4-1. Melville added one run in each of the fifth and sixth innings while the Yankees added one run in each of the sixth and seventh innings finally coming out on the short end of a 6-3 score. Starting pitcher Tyrel Thorpe took the loss for the Yankees on the mound while Jeremy Houle earned the win. Derek Marshall relieved Thorpe in the fifth inning allowing only one run.
The Yankees managed only four hits off the bats of Kurt Karcha, Tom Cook, Evan Wasylyniuk and Dwayne Wandy. Runs were scored by Kurt Karcha with two and Dwayne Wandy with one while RBIs were recorded by Cook, Wasylyniuk and Bryce Pasloski. The win gave Melville a early one game to none lead.
Games two and three went Thursday July 14 and Friday July 15 in Yorkton. Thursday, The Yankees knotted the series at a game each with a convincing 7-2 win off the stellar complete game pitching performance of Jeremy Johnson who gave up no earned runs while earning seven strike outs. Johnson gave up seven hits and three walks on his way to the win.
Kris Kruzer took the loss for Melviile also giving up seven hits while walking two and giving up five earned runs.
Mackenzie Unyi had three hits for the Yankees while Tom Cook had two singles and Johnson and Dwayne Wandy one single each. Cook had three RBI's while. Johnson had one.
Yankee runs were scored by Kurt Karcha with two, Unyi with three and Cook and Garrett Karcha with one each.
The series-deciding game went Melville's way when the Yankees entire game plan disappeared. The Yankees picked the worst time of the year to play their worst game. There were few bright spots as all facets of their game was missing. For one game they were the Bad News Bears of baseball right from pitching to hitting and fielding. The result was a 10-3 drubbing at the hands of the Bison and pitcher Jeremy Houle.
Chris Wyatt, who was relieved by Cook in the fifth inning, took the loss for the Yankees. The Yankees are a far better team than they showed Friday night and are a markedly better team than the Bisons, however not when it counted the most.
The Yankees managed only five hits, three coming off the bat of Unyi who recorded two triples and one double.
Singles were pounded out by Cook and Wyatt. Cook also had two RBI's Unyi one. Runs were scored by Kurt Karcha with two and Unyi with one.
This ends the 2011 season for the Yankees although some of the players will be playing in the Senior AA Provincials in Saskatoon July 29 to August 1.
A number of the Yankee players have announced they will not be returning in 2012 due to family and job commitments as well as some electing to call it a career. The Yankees are hopeful that graduating Junior players will move up to the Yankees which is the reason for the Yankees' original formation.
The South East Senior Baseball League (SESBL) has entered a team in the 2011 Senior AA Provincial Baseball Championship to be held at Cairns Field in Saskatoon July 29 to August 1. The team will wear the Yorkton Yankees uniforms and be known as the Yorkton Yankees however team members are comprised of players from the Yankees, Canora Supers, Willowbrook Royals, Melville Bison and the senior players on the Junior Cardinals roster.
The schedule for the Yankees is as follows: Saturday, July 30 3 p.m. vs Saskatoon Blue Jays; Saturday, July 30 9 p.m. vs Marysburg Royals. All teams advance to a playoff round but the exact time of that game is unknown until round-robin play is complete.
