With a steady thunderstorm coming down from the sky early Sunday morning at Jubilee Park the 2013 Saskatchewan Baseball Pee Wee AA Final was bound to be a memorable game, but the young ballplayers from the Humboldt Dodgers and the host Yorkton Cardinals gave the local baseball fans and parents who braved the elements a real treat.
Dealing with a sloppy infield and a soaked outfield, the players on both the Cardinals and the Dodgers didn't let some brutal luck from mother nature prevent them from seeing through a winner on the weekend.
After both teams rolled through the round robin they headed to the semifinal where both teams would continue their dominance in the tournament.
Yorkton would quickly mercy rule Lloydminster to advance to the final, with the quick win being something that the Cardinals coaching staff felt was a key going into the final as their main pitchers would be fresh and not restricted by the pitch count.
"We really felt that winning the games in a quick fashion all weekend was going to be key as we could give Kayden Taphorn the ball in the final" says the Cardinals coaches Larry Kitchen and Mike Farquharson.
Taphorn would be put to the test early as the Dodgers went up 5-0 quickly before Taphorn settled in to cool off Humboldt. Those five runs would be huge for the Dodgers as they had an ace on the mound in the power pitching Tyler McWilty whose fastball was proving hard for the Cardinals bats to track as he coolly sent down the Cardinals in the early innings.
Still down 5-0 and with McWilty dealing the Cardinals would find their way back in the game when two Cardinals batters would get on base before getting sent home on a huge three run home run that went well over the outfield wall as someone finally connected on McWilty's fastball and just in time as the Cardinals would now have more than enough chances to tie the game up.
After the fourth inning with the gravel crew already having to come on before the inning to throw some more down in an attempt to dry the mound and home plate, the umpires suspended play and the tarps came out with the threat of a suspended game and a Humboldt win hanging on the balance of mother nature. After nearly half an hour the rain subsided enough for the field to dry up and let the Cardinals and the Dodgers take the field for the fifth inning, making sure that a true provincial champion would be crowned.
Yorkton would take to bat in the top of the fifth with the Dodgers ace still on the mound and commanding the game closing in on his maximum 85 pitch count. The Cardinals failed to get a fifth inning rally going, getting caught stealing going from second to third, ending the inning with the runner in scoring position getting thrown out, putting the pressure on Taphorn to continue throwing strong pitches to get the Cardinals one last shot at bat in striking distance of extending the game.
With the infield's wet gravel creating some weird bounces all game, the Cardinals received the worst of all bounces to start the bottom of the fifth as two Dodgers baserunners advanced on errors before a ground ball hit straight through the middle would extend the Dodgers lead. Taphorn's night would end shortly after as he reached his 85 pitches, it would be too late after that as the Dodgers would add some extra insurance before Yorkton would come to bat.
A quick start would give the Cardinals some confidence as they added two runs to start the inning, chasing the Dodgers starter on pitch count and bringing in their closer. With an 11-5 lead to work with the Dodgers reliever would make short work of the rest of the Cardinals to end the game and the provincial final in what was a wild and hard fought game for both sides.
Yorkton, who have had some problems with their minor baseball program's higher age level in terms of participation came out to support the Pee Wee AA tournament all weekend something that was not lost on the coaches from both teams. "It was a huge honour to host a provincial final and show off our great facility in Yorkton," says Farquharson. "We have a wide open facility with plenty of well maintained diamonds and we owe a ton of debt to all of those who volunteer and work at the diamond to keep our facility one of the best in the province and hopefully more youth will take advantage of a great opportunity to participate in Yorkton Minor Baseball.
Humboldt's coach also joined in one the praise of the Yorkton facility and thanked the staff at Jubilee Park as well as the volunteers and the City of Yorkton for hosting the Dodgers and running a well organized event considering the time changes for the medal round games due to Sunday's rain storms.
Those storms would be a talking point as both teams agreed that the wet infield gave their young players havoc in fielding the ball on Sunday. "The ball is going to be wet and players are going to be focused on the cold and trying to stay warm so in a situation like this you are bound to have errors on both sides," explains the Dodgers coach.
For Yorkton they would keep their heads high knowing that they were the second best team in the province. "If you told us at the start of the season that we would host Pee Wee AA provincials and take Humboldt to the very end in a close game we all would have took it and we are extremely proud of the way our young boys played this season and in the way they represented our city at Jubilee Park this weekend and wish them the best in the future" closed Farquharson and Kitchen.
Humboldt will now move on to the Western Canadian Baseball Tournament held in Swift Current where they will represent their city for the first time. Humboldt will be coming with some experience however as some of the Dodgers players and coaches took part in the provincial title winning Muenster team last season.
