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A season filled with laughs, memories, and bunch of friends loving the game of baseball, made for a special season for the U11 Carillon Orioles.
"We had a lot of fun," coach Mike Reimer says with a smile. "We had a group of boys from Mitchell and Ste. Anne come together. We really didn't know what to expect heading into the tournament, we'd only played a couple games as qualifiers to get ready for it. Just looking back at the way they played, just their effort and how they came together as teammates, even the families and communities together, we sure had a lot of fun. We had a great season."
Reflecting on the growth of the team on the field, Reimer says there's an area or two that stands out as the teams biggest growth. "In confidence, I'd say. Whether that's baserunning or their approach at the plate. Having a good strike one or strike two approach, tightening up the sticks when they do get into two strikes, learning the baseball details. I can see how we were aggressive on the basepaths and it all came to a head during a good weekend of baseball."
Connecting as friends was at the core of the success for the Orioles, and Reimer says it was the most important thing this season. "We had a good time, that's for sure," he says with a laugh. "A lot of the team camped in the Winkler camp ground, and it was fun to see the boys riding their bikes, playing tennis or swimming in the pool. Those are important friendships to have. We had a long rain delay on the Sunday morning in our semifinal game after four and a half innings, the boys kept busy, hung out, played catch, it was all great to see. One of the messages we had was to have a good focus on what our task was, what we wanted to do as a team, but also that resilience part when things don't go your way, shake it off. As a teammate, you pick each other up, you stay positive, positive words and thoughts. It was fun to see the kids learn all that through sport."
At provincials, the Orioles really came together as a group and preformed very well throughout the weekend. "AA provincials, so Baseball Manitoba has tiered provincials, which are one, two, and three," explains Reimer. "Two weeks later, you have AA provincials. So what our team did, with registration numbers, we combined Mitchell and Ste. Anne, and we had to qualify out of Carillon. We played a Seine River team, and from there, we went to qualifiers in Portage, where we had to finish top two out of four teams there, played Portage, Pembina Hills and Stonewall. Our team was undefeated there. We went into tier one, and we played Winnipeg teams and rural teams, the top four Winnipeg teams, and top six rural teams. Looking at the standings ont he Winnipeg teams, having not played any of them, we knew our task was going to be pretty big. This is my third year being at the AA provincials with 11U, and we had never got out of round robin play to get to a semifinal, I think we always finished 2-2."
Right from the opening game, Reimer knew this was going to be different. "We started off playing both the Winnipeg teams on the Friday, and we just pitched unbelievably. We beat the top Winnipeg team 6-0, with dominate pitching performance. We then beat the Bonivital team 6-1 later that evening, and same thing, pitching and defense was unreal. Added in was clutch hitting and opportune baserunning. We kind of figured we'd just need to win the one game on the Saturday. We played Brandon in the morning, and it was a tight game, 4-4 midway through, then we pulled away and beat them 10-4. Later that day in the sweltering heat, we played the Altona team, and we came out on top there 9-3. We were ecstatic. We as coaches thought it was great, it wasn't what we expected, but aim for perfection and hopefully land on excellence, that's what we were thinking."
Playoff Sunday would be a day filled with battles on the field, and with mother nature. "We had the semifinal game on Sunday, we played Red River Valley, it was 2-1 after three and a half innings, when the skies opened up, and it poured. We had a good two, three hour rain delay. We finished that game winning 4-1. We scored two runs as soon as we resumed play. Pitching was again unreal for us. We went off to the finals, where we gave ourselves a chance. We played a tough Winkler team that was also undefeated going into it. Looking at their scores, it was quite daunting, because they had scored 17 runs in a number of games. Again, we were focused on having a positive mindset, playing free, and doing our best. The boys played their hearts out. They were exhausted from the heat, the rain, and the long weekend. We were right in it, we played great, we had chances, and it was a close game. It was 1-1 going into the bottom of the last inning, and Winkler scratched out a run on us, which was unfortunate. But, we told the boys it was a win for the weekend, just the way they carried themselves, and the way we played as a team. We had so much fun on and off the diamond. It was a very positive experience. I'm so proud of our team, and of our communities that came together and supported the team over the weekend."
It's a bright, bright future for the athletes on the U11 Orioles, but also the Carillon ball programs going forward. "Very excited," Reimer says with an upbeat tone. "I've gone through the program with my older boy, I've gone through the 13U and 15U, and with these boys and seeing where there skill is at, combined with their passion for the game, it's a good sign going forward for Carillon baseball. They've got a good group of 2014 age kids coming up. It's exciting to finish as high as we did, and I think we inspired a few kids to continue with baseball, because it sure was a lot of fun."