Capping off a strong season, the U15 Steinbach Pioneers won the provincial championship and coach Kevin Verestiuk couldn't be prouder of the group.
"It's been a great year," Verestiuk says smiling. "The boys had a lot of fun and with that, came a lot of success right to the end. Proud of the group and all the work they put in to be successful this year."
Going back to the beginning, Verestiuk says the group that came into the season already had a strong bond. "It has been almost the exact same team for the last three or four years. A couple of new guys, one or two, but for the most part, it's been the same team for the last handful of years."
With that built in relationship, the team went about their business very professionally, something that Verestiuk believes led to wins. "They all can play everywhere, a very versatile group. They were very talented, knew every position and when asked, they'd perform anywhere we put them."
Throughout the year, there was a particular part of the teams game that Verestiuk says stuck out. "One particular area was our pitching. Our pitching was very strong. We have a few really talented pitchers that carried us through the provincials. That was what we feel was a big strength for our team."
Provincials is always filled with tough, talented teams, but Verestiuk brought the group in with a higher level of expectations. "Yeah, there were big expectations. We know some of these guys won't be playing together possibly next year with 18U next for a lot of kids, so we knew we had a good opportunity to win this provincials. We took it one game at a time, just went about our business and it all worked out in the end."
Playing in that championship game, Verestiuk knew it was going to be a battle, but his team was up for it. "That final game was against Winkler and they were an extremely strong group. Their starting pitcher was very, very strong. That game was close, basically right within one going into the fifth inning, then we broke it open. We scored six runs in the fifth inning, then another four runs in the sixth to kind of seal the game, which was very exciting."
Being the head coach, Verestiuk admits he took some time to stand back, watch the celebration and appreciate all that went into the last few seasons. "It was so great, it was special to see them so excited. You never know if you're going to be in that position again, so we let them enjoy the moment. Our coaching group was really excited for them."
Looking down the road, it will be an interesting future for the program. "I think they'll be strong," Verestiuk says. "I think it'll be a completely new group in 15U next year, and I think the program has been heading in the right direction in Steinbach. There will be good years head."
Verestiuk says the community of people around the team really made things special all year. "The parent group was pheoniminal on our team. The work they all did, it made the coaching side of things easy, just all the work that they do, our manager, the parents, everyone contributed. Without a good parent group, it just doesn't work. Hats off to them and we can't thank them enough for all that they've done."