Bonnyville Mosquito AA Baseball Headed to Grande Praire

It’s been a whirlwind first year for the players, and coaches of the Bonnyville Mosquito AA Braves. Players are getting a taste of high caliber ball at a younger age than normal in Bonnyville. The fun challenge with the new team has been the coaches doing as much learning as the players. Their season is about to wrap up with Provincials.

Successful start

The Mosquito AA Braves were in a province wide pool to begin the season in May. As the season moved into June, the teams were ranked into division 1 and division 2. They played June, and were then ranked into tiers. The rankings are all carefully looked after by Baseball Alberta. The Braves were ranked into tier 3 after the June schedule. In July the teams battled to stay within their tier or fight for the off-chance to move up. The Braves finished in tier 3 after all 18 games on the season schedule. The team’s record was 8-11, but they scored 198 runs for, while giving up 10 fewer.

“Going into it we didn’t know what to expect. We hoped to compete with the city teams.  We’ve done really good. In tier 3, we are up against some really strong competition. Our team is mostly first years. Our boys have done really well to get us where we are now.” Coach Kenny MacMillan explains.

Grande Prairie Provincials

The Braves will play in Grande Prairie for the third and final weekend of July. All the work the boys have put in has lead them to tier 3 provincials. The Mosquito AA Braves will play in a field of five teams. The Braves will play two games on Friday, one game on Saturday, and potentially two games on Sunday. Coach MacMillan is glad to be playing the two games on Friday.

“We were kind of hoping for the two games on Friday because of the way pitch counts work. We have to follow the count for the kids. We can utilize some of our better pitchers a little more. Thanks to the extra rest.” MacMillan says.

Team info

The kids are formed from both St. Paul and Bonnyville. The team leaves for Grande Prairie today (July 27).