A summer that saw Saltcoats complete major improvements to the two minor ball diamonds in its regional park, both of which were named for major financial supporters of minor ball in the town, was capped this past weekend with the hometown team winning a provincial baseball championship.
Up against teams from Saskatoon, Weyburn, Humbolt, and four other centres, the Saltcoats PeeWee Lakers put the Laketown back on the provincial baseball map by winning the Sask. Baseball Association’s 2019 13U Tier 6 Provincial Championship.
“I’d say baseball is back”, Saltcoats Mayor Grant McCallum told the large crowd on hand for Friday evening’s opening ceremonies. He recalled that the connection between Saltcoats and baseball goes as far back as the 1880’s. Following a lull in the 1940’s and 1950’s, with support from the local chamber of commerce it experienced a major resurgence. The height of that growth in popularity was the July 1st ball tournaments in Saltcoats which drew up to 10,000 ball fans to the park for baseball and fastball games. A sign for diamond #17 was recently discovered, providing proof of just how big the one day event was.
In recent years, interest had dropped off but thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers, with support from the town and RM of Saltcoats and the local minor ball organizations, baseball games are now a regular evening pastime for the 70+ local ball players and their fans during the early summer months.
The badly needed upgrades to the two ball diamonds cost in the range of $150,000 which the ball committee covered through fundraising and sponsorships. McCallum noted that if “sweat equity” was included, the cost of improvements would be well over $200, 000. Plans are already underway for improvements to the park’s main diamond which once was home to the Saltcoats Lakers Senior Baseball team and which, in coming years, will possibly see Midget and Bantam games played on it.
Facing the large crowd and with the eight participating teams on the Farrell Agencies diamond McCallum said “We built it, and they came”. Connecting the past with the present, leftie Dave Datema – a key baseball figure in Saltcoats through many years – threw a perfect strike to officially kick off the tournament.
While that was definitely an early point of the weekend, the crowning touch came two days later as the Lakers posted a come-from-behind, extra-inning 12-11 win to claim the tournament and SBA gold medals Sunday afternoon. To do so the hometown team put together a 5-0 record in the tournament which placed Saltcoats in Pool B against the Southey Eagles, Saskatoon Brave Knights and Weyburn Beavers.
The Lakers played through the tournament using their regular season roster of 13 players, all of whom, with the exception of one Bredenbury player, came from the town or the RM. I In Pool A were the Lloydminster Twins, Humboldt Dodgeres and Gull Lake Greyhounds.
The Lakers placed first in their pool with a 13-10 win over Southey, an 8-3 win over Saskatoon, and a 15-8 win over Weyburn. Weyburn placed second in Pool B followed by Southey and Saskatoon. In Pool A Lloydminster placed first followed by Humboldt in second, Gull Lake in third, and Wawota in fourth.
That set the stage for Sunday morning’s semifinal which saw Saltcoats squeak by Humboldt by a 4-3 margin, while Weyburn handed Lloydminster a 19-14 loss. Sunday afternoon’s championship game saw the fielders and batters facing some extremely high winds throughout the scheduled six-inning game which would up stretching to nearly three hours.
Coming off their 19-run semifinal onslaught against Lloydminster, the Beavers took an early six run lead. However, the Lakers supported by some strong pitching by starter Estyn Nabozniak and relievers Nikki Devins and Kyla Farquharson, plus some excellent fielding, battled back to tie the game 11-11 at the end of six. Both teams tightened up their play, not allowing any further runs until the bottom of the ninth when, with two out, Liam Baron punched a hard shot to center field scoring Devins from third base. It was the Lakers third comeback win in a row.
The SBA 2019 13U AA Tier 6 Provincial championship Saltcoats Lakers team consists of Liam Baron, Wyatt Bergen, Nikki Devins, Wyatt Evans, Kyla Farquharson, Tristan Kostelnyk, Jace McCallum, Rooke Mickle, Luke Morgan, Alex Morrisonm Estyn Nabozniak, Gabe Nabozniak-Wog and Cole Stainer. Head coach Mike Farquharson and assistant coaches are Cam Morgan, Jesse Baron and Hannah Farquharson. Team manager is Anna Bergen.
They were presented their gold medals and championship plaque by SBA representative Brian Murray. The tournament proved to be a major success, which was all the more impressive given the short amount of time Saltcoats had to prepare for it, agreeing to host the event just a few weeks before-hand when no other centre was willing to step forward. Proceeds from it will go towards more dimaond improvements.