It promises to be a big weekend for baseball in Barrhead, as the Peewee ‘AA’ and Barrhead ‘AA’ Orioles will both be hosting their respective Baseball Alberta provincial championships from Friday to Sunday, July 27-29.
“There definitely isn’t going to be any shortage of ball,” said Peewee coach Adam Budgen, noting the Midget ‘AAA’ team will also be playing in Barrhead this weekend.
Both the Peewee and Bantam teams play in Baseball Alberta’s minor ball league. The Peewees are in Tier 5, while the Bantams are in Tier 6.
In the case of both championships, there will be five visiting teams. The Bantams will play at Diamond 4, while the Peewees will be hosting games at Diamond 1. Both diamonds are over by the Barrhead Agrena.
Bantams glad to be home
Manager Barb Sabiston said they will kick things off against Sherwood Park at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.
Opening ceremonies will take place at 6 p.m., and immediately afterwards, they will host a game against Chestermere.
The team then plays a third game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Lethbridge Junior Academy.
Their final game in the round robin will be on Sunday at noon against Eckville from central Alberta.
If there is no tie-breaker required, the championship game will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday. If a tie-breaker is needed, it will be hosted at 6 p.m.
The Bantams have a record of 7-10, having wrapped up their regular season with a double-header in Calgary. They lost against a Calgary team by two runs and then mercied a team from Lethbridge.
Sabiston noted out of their 14 kids, only five of them have played competitive ball prior to this season.
“We’re just hoping to do well (at provincials), better than .500,” she added.
What the boys are really excited about is having the chance to play at home; because of how their schedule worked out, they’ve only had one home game this year on July 13.
“They’re very excited to have it at home,” Sabiston said. “We’ve only had one home game, so they haven’t been able to play in front of their families and friends and stuff. So they’re really excited about it.”
Peewees copy Blue Jays
Unlike the Bantams, the schedule for the Peewee provincials had not been finalized as of press time. When it is ready, the Barrhead Leader will attempt to post the schedule online.
When asked how the Peewee Orioles have been doing this year, Budgen said they have followed the path of the Toronto Blue Jays: they started off very promisingly, but injuries have turned their year into a bit of a struggle.
“We’ve had lots of injuries to key players on the team,” he noted.
Budgen said they started off with 11 players on the roster and have had at least two sidelined for injuries the whole year.
But it’s still been a good year, Budgen indicated.
“Standings-wise, we’re not necessarily where … we wanted to be, but the kids have developed really well. It’s been a really enjoyable season up until now.”
Unlike the Bantams, the Peewees have had plenty of chances to host home games; in fact, they basically had four weekends in a row when they were in Barrhead.
That’s kind of a double-edged sword, since you save in travel time but have to do a lot more work.
“This week’s going to be a little nuts, but it will all work out … With the group of people involved, I know it will turn out well,” Budgen said.
In terms of how they will do at provincials, Budgen said he believes they have a shot of winning the championship.
“I’m still hoping that we will string a good weekend together. We definitely have a chance.”
It mostly depends on how they do against the Edmonton Angels, the “team to beat” in this year’s championship.
“We’ve come close to beating (Edmonton) a couple of times this year. I know we can beat them if we have the right game,” he said.
“All the stars are going to have to align. Everyone is going to have to bring their A game, for sure.”
