The Bringer of Rain

What you need as a tournament coordinator is, a few rain delays to keep the brain sharp. The Lakeland League finals are notorious for being a hot, muggy, weekend and almost always some kind of rain during the day… just to make everyone’s day just a little more interesting. This year was no exception.

A huge thunderstorm on Saturday shut down the ball diamonds in Elk Point and St. Paul, and most likely some other places. The storm postponed games until Sunday. Trying to jam two days into one, when the schedule is already full, is a real test for the associations volunteers.

Here, in Elk Point, we were hosting the Peewee softball league finals, on two diamonds, the Bantam baseball Provincial round robin, on another diamond, and Mosquitoes Provincials round robin on another diamond.

Trying to find enough parents to do the concession, get diamonds ready,  pitch count, score keep, and find umpires is a challenge. Plus, parents with more than one child are usually splitting up or sending their child with someone to get them all to the games. Some parents may have one child in a tournament Pierceland and another in Plamondon or Vermilion or anywhere else in the Lakeland.

But in the end of it all, almost all of our Elk Point teams had a terrific weekend. One of them, the Peewee baseball team, even bringing home the gold medal, for the league.

The Peewee baseball team won the tier one Peewee division over eight other teams. They finished the league in forth spot and the top eight teams played in tier one, the bottom six in the tier two.

So, out of 14 Peewee teams, in the Lakeland League, the Elk Point Sox are the best of the best.

In the final game, bottom of the final inning, Lac La Biche loaded the bases, and down by only a run, with a full count on the batter would drive the ball to second base. Sox player, ‘Bazooka Joey’ Cardinal, knocked the ball down and getting the final out on a force play at second to win the game.  ‘Bazooka Joey’ was chosen the player of the game ,by his team mates.

The Sox are the  Lakeland League champs, and have bragging rights for the whole summer! Great job by the coaching staff, head coach Myrna Moroziuk, and her assistants, Tyler Loughran, Joshua Bateman, Jon Schmitt, Robyn Moroziuk the team manager Melanie Poulin.

The Bantam baseball team is making a real run for the money picked up the silver medal making it to the tier one final game, losing to a very strong ace pitcher from Lac La Biche in the end.

Great job by head coach Brian Poitras and his assistant Dean Rogal and the rest of the staff and manager. These boys have come a long way since the first day of spring training!

The Rookie team was playing in Bonnyville, with only five players in the end, won the C final, after winning all their games except one.

Super job by coaches Tyson Ballas and John Kadutski teaching them the basic baseball skills, throwing, catching and hitting.

The Mosquitoes played the best games that they have all year, in Cold Lake, this past weekend. The ended up winning two games and losing out for third place by only a run, despite having only eight players.

Great job once more by head coach Dan Peterson and Chris Swedgen and Tanya Fontaine.

The Mosquitoes Provincial team, led by our minor ball president Dennell Anderson, hosted at home. They split the weekend winning over Sherwood Park and losing to Lacombe. Margaret Bayduza is the manager.

The Bantam Provincial team, the Lakeland Northstars, coached by Tyler Warawa, had a tough weekend. They won one game, on Saturday, and lost two games, on Sunday. Seemed like the boys’ minds were off in la la land, or maybe just a little bit distracted by the Peewee softball team who played in the two diamonds next to them.

Our Puma Peewee softball team did an excellent job of hosting the tournament this weekend. Hats off to all the parents and coaches for all their hard work volunteering and especially the Midget softball team for floating and chalking diamonds, as well as selling 50/50s. Talk about giving back!

The tournament was a huge success, even after dealing with the rain that came down about 3:00 pm, on Saturday, shutting down everything and forcing then to jam every game in Sunday.

The Elk Point Pumas played in some very close games coming in forth overall. Great job by the head coach Melissa Skarson and her staff.

The Bantam Pumas were down in Vermilion, on the weekend, running into some very tough pitching against Lac La Biche and Pierceland. They lost both games and on Saturday they were eliminated. It was tough losing, but the team has been improving in all areas all year.

Good  job  by the coaches Teressa Boratynec and Kim Wallington and team manager Lori Cribbons.

The Mighty Mites won two out of three games, in Pierceland, on Saturday. They defeated Bonnyville and Pierceland, coached by some pretty good ball players, Felina DeMossiac, Gwen Pierce and Lisa Warawa.

The Squirt Pumas played in Plamondon, losing out in the B final by 2 runs. Not bad at all, I would say, considering they played three games, back-to-back, on Sunday, just to get to the final.

Another great job by head coach Kelly Radcliffe and her assistants and the team manager Lindsey Malchowski.

The Midget Pumas volunteered their time this past weekend and are coached by Darc’y Evans will be playing during this week for their league finals.