It鈥檚 been a challenging year for the North Battleford Midget AA Beavers as a roster of younger players adapted to competing at a higher level of baseball.
However, they have a chance to finish off the year on a high note in Saskatoon, as they鈥檒l compete in the Midget AA Division 3 provincial championships from July 21-23.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to play a number of teams that are at the same caliber as us, so it should be a fairly wide open and competitive tournament,鈥� Beavers coach Bert Benoit said. 鈥淭here will be teams from Meadow Lake, Prince Albert and Yorkton in attendance, along with a couple from Saskatoon.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen Meadow Lake and were within a run against them, and we held our own against the two teams from Saskatoon during our games earlier this season.鈥�
Prior to the provincials, the Beavers are scheduled to attend the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League鈥檚 year-end tournament on July 14 and 15 in Regina, but it鈥檚 still to be determined if that event will take place or not.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of provincials that are taking place in Regina so they aren鈥檛 sure if they will have enough umpires for our tournament there,鈥� Benoit said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to find out Monday if they will be moving the tournament to another location, keeping it in Regina or not having it at all.
鈥淚n the meantime, we have a bunch of exhibition games planned. We hosted Macklin on Wednesday night and we鈥檙e going to play them at their diamond Thursday. If that league event doesn鈥檛 happen, we will either host a three-team tournament over a couple of days next weekend or we will travel up to Meadow Lake and have it there.鈥�
The SPBL season was a tough one for the Beavers, as they finished with a 1-18 record and picked up their only league win at Beaver Lions Stadium on May 27 in a 13-5 affair with the Regina Blue Jays.
鈥淚t was still a great learning experience for the guys in every game that we played,鈥� Benoit said. 鈥淭hey kept up a good positive attitude over the course of the season and they were never discouraged.
鈥淭hey all realized that they were in for a tough time this year with so many players taking part in midget baseball for the first time, but they were able to recognize those challenges and they had fun out there. I think you鈥檒l see a lot of improvement from our guys once next season starts with the experience that they had this year.鈥�
As they gear up for their final games of the season, the Beavers are sticking to the basics when it comes to their practice routine.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working a lot on our hitting and our pitching at the moment,鈥� Benoit said. 鈥淏eing able to go deep into pitch counts is something that we have been really focusing on with our players as of late.
鈥淥ne of the things that our entire coaching staff is happy about is how well the guys are hitting the ball. We鈥檝e really come a long way in that part of the game.鈥�
The Beavers will also have some new faces on their rosters as they are planning to bring in a couple of players from Edam and Glaslyn for the provincial tournament.
鈥淚t gives us a few more options when it comes to our lineup, especially as they are both good pitchers,鈥� Benoit said.
鈥淲ith the pitch counts that are in effect and the fact that you can鈥檛 have a pitcher be a catcher in another game during the day, having those guys joining us will help us when it comes to roster flexibility.鈥�
