Minor baseball round-up: 13U Royals rounding into form heading into Tier 1 playoffs

Dave Leaderhouse

Special to the Herald

The 13U Prince Albert Royals baseball team appears to be rounding into form as they prepare for the provincial Tier 1 playoffs which will be held in Humboldt in less than a month’s time.

With no league in place for that age class, the Royals are relying exclusively on tournament and exhibition games to prepare for provincials and for the second straight weekend they posted positive results.

A week removed from reaching the championship final of a tournament held in Muenster – where they lost 2-0 to the Humboldt Dodgers – the Royals hosted the Muenster Red Sox in a twinbill at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex on Saturday winning both ends by 18-12 and 13-9 margins.

“Our offence showed up huge in both games,” noted Royals’ coach Michael Lypchuk. “Everyone went to the plate with a plan and it showed up huge on the scoreboard.”

Joaquin Elliot was the offensive star in the opening game hitting a towering three-run home run to give the Royals some momentum while Lypchuk acknowledged the defensive play of Tobin Hurd and Boden Kuzma were keys to the second-game victory.

The Royals continue their busy tune-up schedule this coming weekend when they will travel to Melville for more tournament action. Prince Albert opens the event with a game against the Lumsden Cubs and will then face Yorkton and White Butte in subsequent preliminary-round games.

Provincials are set for July 24-26 in Humboldt, but regardless of the result in that event they will also be the host team for the Western Canadian 13U championships scheduled for mid-August in Prince Albert. Naturally, going through the front door is the plan and with their recent play it looks like that door is opening wider.

Unlike the 13U division, the 15U Royals compete in the Saskatchewan Premiere Baseball League and this past week was busy for the squad as they gained a split in a twinbill in Melfort on Thursday against the Northern Jays and followed that up with another split in Muenster on Saturday against the East Central Dodgers. The Royals were also scheduled to host the Watrous Lakers in a doubleheader on Sunday, but poor weather has forced that to be rescheduled to July 7 at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex.

In Melfort the Royals opened with a 7-6 victory before losing the nightcap 14-4 and in Muenster the script was much the same as they scored six runs in the top half of an extra inning to capture the opener 12-8, but were mercied in the second game 17-5.

Jamie Cournoyer, Nate Stasiw and Nolan Wasylyk each had two runs in the extra-inning win over the Dodgers with Charlie Harvey, Nyjah Ancheta, Stasiw and Wasylyk each knocking in a pair of runs. Stasiw had two of the Royals’ four hits in the second game, a game that saw them jump into a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first inning only to see the Dodgers respond with six in their half of the first and add eight more in the second inning.

The Royals, who are tied for sixth place with a 6-12-0 record, will be on the road this weekend for games in Warman, Moose Jaw and Regina before finishing the regular schedule with the rescheduled doubleheader against Watrous on July 7.

The 15U provincials will be held in Warman on July 17-19 with this Royals squad also looking for provincial success before hosting the Western Canadian championship in mid-August.

Both Prince Albert entries in the SPBL’s 18U division – the Padres and Royals – were idle last week due to high school graduation commitments, but both will be back in action this week highlighted by a first-ever meeting between the two clubs in a Canada Day doubleheader at Andy Zwack Field.

The Royals are riding a six-game winning streak entering this week and that recent run has moved them into fourth place in the league standings, just three games back of the front-running Regina Blue Jays.

The Padres, a first-year entry in the league, are also on a bit of a roll having won their last three outings to improve to 8-6-1. The Padres, who were scheduled to play the SaskFive Giants on Monday, are tied for seventh place in the 15-team league with the top eight qualifying for the Tier 1 provincials.

The winner of the Tier 1 provincial tournament will represent Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian championships to be played in Prince Albert in mid-August with there also being a host team that will be announced leading up to the event.

Following the Canada Day doubleheader, when games will be played at 1 and 5 p.m., the Padres and Royals will both be heading to Moose Jaw for weekend twinbills against the Canucks. The Padres, who have a number of games to make up due to cancellations and postponements due to weather earlier in the season, will also be in Lumsden this weekend to face the Cubs.

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