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Heading into the weekend, there's a lot of positivity around the U13 AA Carillon Sultans Grey squad, and they can't wait to hit the ground running.
"We've had a lot of games," coach Colin Tetrault explains. "Some double headers, some practices, not as many as we would have liked, but we've prepared everyone to play different positions, and I think we're ready to go with everyone locked and loaded."
Throughout the year, Tetrault has been blown away by this teams skill development. "It's been great," he says proudly. "I didn't know many of the players, but now, it's easy to know where to put them. They've grown so much on the field and at the plate, it's been amazing."
While on the field success is always important, Tetrault and the coaches have put a lot of emphasis on team bonding and friendship building. "There's a big different between them at the start of the year and now," he says with a chuckle. "Right now, they're sillier, they joke around, and they cheer each other on. It's nice to see, they love hanging out with each other. Skills apart, the friendships and bonds are very, very important."
With their first game set for Friday, Tetrault has circled a specific area where he believes his team separates from the competition. "I think our team top to bottom is pretty deep when it comes to skill. We don't have a major drop in talent from top of the lineup to the bottom. It's hard when you have to face goo batters from one to eleven. I've noticed other teams are top heavy, they have four or five good hitters, then it drops off dramatically. I can put anyone in any position and not be nervous at all. The fact we have a stable lineup offensively and defensively, that's huge for us."
After a strong year, Tetrault isn't shy about setting expectations, and believes the club can do something very special. "Well, as a coach we always have expectations. Myself, Dave Blatz and Jason Sharpe, I've appreciated them a lot, their knowledge is amazing, and we talk a lot about where to put players for success. I'm gunning for the top four and to be in the semifinals. If we don't make it, it's not a failure of a season at all. We're kind of ranked third or fourth in our pool, but I believe we can make it into the top two of our pool and make the semi's. That's our goal and hopefully we accomplish it."
Another big piece when it comes to making this year special is the people around the team, according to Tetrault. "I'll be honest, it's been a pretty great year of people. You never know with parents, some year there are complaints, but this year, there's been nothing like that. The parents get along really well, they've told us a bunch of times how much the appreciate us coaching the team, and taking the time to do so. It's been a fun group and it looks like they're having fun. The players are a reflection of their parents, they're honest, hard working and it's been really, really, great to coach them."
Tetrault believes this group is just scratching the surface of what they can accomplish in the game of baseball. "We have a young team, mostly 2013's, which are first years in U13. To see us be competitive in the whole AA programs in the province, that means a lot. I see these kids growing a lot in the future. Winning is awesome, but I think developing the players is more important. For them to love the game and want to play more, I think we've accomplished that. We've tried not to label players in one position, we want them to try it all. Maybe this weekend we specialize a little more, but we try to give everyone equal opportunity to be all over, and we believe it benefits them long term."
The Carillon Sultans U13 Team Grey's first game is Friday at 1:00 p.m. and then again at 6:00 p.m. They follow that up with two games on Saturday, 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday is playoffs and game times will be determined based off results from Friday and Saturday.