AAAs take Hat battle

By Ryan McCracken on July 14, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat AAA Thunder kicked off their host invitational baseball tournament with a commanding cross-town victory over the local AA squad on Friday at KinCoulee Park.

Jack Didack, Evan Morrison, Carson Sauter and Hayden Hall all connected for 3 RBI in a 19-1 landslide victory that will serve as a tune-up for the tournament to come.

“It was good. We played well, waited for our pitches, got some good fielding and got some key hits obviously,” said AAA head coach Jeff Hall, adding they expect some strong competition out of CalWest, Brooks and Chestermere as the tournament continues through Sunday. “We’re looking to improve for this coming week because we have our Prairies up in Calgary.”

Didack, who finished 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, says he recently made an adjustment in his swing, which has helped him thrive at the plate.

“My coaches just recently fixed my swing, so I’m hitting better now,” said Didack, adding it’s been a promising season so far. “It’s going pretty good. We’re winning most of our tournaments.”

Payton Eddy collected the victory for the AAAs after holding the AAs to one run on four hits.

AA starter Evan Taylor took the loss after allowing six runs on three hits in the first.

Zac Henderson led the AAs with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate.

AA head coach John Hieb added the team will be trying to soak up experience and improve their in-game focus at the tournament with the post-season just around the corner.

“Playing against the AAAs, we expected a similar score to what happened. We were just mainly working on trying to keep our focus. The kids, they have good hearts, they play well, our batting is really good but we have a focus problem that we’re trying to overcome,” said Hieb. “We’re trying to gain experience. Our big goal is Prairies coming up in the first week of August.”

The Medicine Hat Major AAA Invitational Tournament continues with games from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Sunday at Kin Coulee Park.

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