13U baseball was the main draw along with 18U action this past weekend for Baseball Sask provincials. Nine local teams were at five different tournaments, and two came out victorious with a gold medal, including one on their home field.
The tournament in Unity was one of two going on around West Central this past weekend, joining 18U play in Kindersley. The Cardinals headlined Pool "A" with the Swift Current 57's Wynyard Blues, and Maidstone Lakers, while Pool "B" consisted of the Kindersley Royals, Saskatoon Braves Blue Jackets, Humboldt Dodgers, and Cabri River Pirates.
Kindersley opened their tournament with a 10-8 win against Saskatoon. They fell to 1-1 after a 14-4 loss to Humboldt started Saturday, but the Royals bounced back with a 14-1 win against Cabri to secure a spot in Sunday's semis.
Unity's tournament run began with a 14-0 win against Swift Current after Friday's opening ceremonies. Taking the field again on Saturday the Cardinals bats stayed hot for a 13-3 win against Wynyard, and then in the evening portion Unity just edged Maidstone 14-13 to take top spot in Pool A and set up a Sunday matchup with Kindersley for a chance to make the finals.
Unity proved too much for Kindersley in the semifinals winning 15-5 to secure a spot in the finals, while in the other semi-final, Maidstone beat Humboldt 15-11 to set up a rematch from Saturday's exciting round robin finale.
The sequel didn't disappoint, especially for home fans, as the Cardinals won 8-6 to claim provincial glory on their own diamond.
The other local champions from this past weekend were the 13U Rosetown Angels who came out on top of Tier 2 action in Yorkton, taking down the Macklin Lakers in the finals.
Rosetown's weekend started with a 13-3 win over the host Yorkton Cardinals on Friday night, and then another offensive explosion 19-8 against Watrous on Saturday afternoon moved their record to 2-0. The nightcap was their closest game of the round-robin, edging out the Saskatoon Cardinal Cannons 9-8 to earn a top seed going into Sunday.
Macklin also started their tournament with a big 14-3 win against the Saskatoon A's. On Saturday morning Macklin beat Southey 13-6 to improve to 2-0, and just like Rosetown, edged out a win 6-5 in the final game to earn the other top seed headed into championship Sunday.
Both semifinal games started at noon on Sunday as Rosetown took care of Redvers 4-1 to advance to the finals, while Macklin won a thriller 13-12 against Watrous to secure their spot.
The lengthy semifinal may have proved too much in the final game, as Rosetown used pitching and defense to take a 5-0 shutout win and claim gold against their West Central rivals.
This past weekend officially put an end to minor ball provincials around the province, in both baseball and softball.
Follow the links for the rest of the results as Biggar and Eatonia were together playing Tier 4 out of the Sask Five region, Leader and another Rosetown team took on Tier 6 in Saskatoon, and finally the Delisle Tigers part of Tier 7 play down in Gull Lake.
Related Stories:
- 18U Wartime wins provincial gold in Saltcoats
- From Regina to Rosetown: Ramblers claim 15U title after Sunday rainout
- PHOTOS: Host Royals, Unity Cardinals take on 18U provincials in Kindersley
- Biggar Nationals take silver at home provincials
Next up will be Baseball Sask senior provincial tournaments getting underway next as we enter August, firing up this weekend in Saskatoon as the Unity Cardinals take on Tier 1 competition against the rest of the provinces best.