NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Medicine Hat Junior AAA All-Stars Trevin Ressler and Jeff Bullock (40) play catch during a practice at Kin Coulee on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Medicine Hat AAA All-Stars will look to punch their ticket to the Junior Little League Canadian Championship when they host Airdrie in a provincial best-of-three championship series at Kin Coulee this weekend.
While the All-Stars have seen Airdrie play earlier this season, it was from the stands at a tournament in Kalispell – leaving them with little to go on entering the pivotal weekend set.
“We saw them play a couple of games and that was it,” said Dean Harrison, whose All-Stars open the three-game set Friday at Kin Coulee Park at 6 p.m. “It’s tough to tell because we were all playing different teams, it was a 10-team tournament. I think we had maybe one opponent that was the same – we tied them, they lost to them. So that’s about it, we don’t have much to go on.”
It’s a tough situation, but second-year All-Star Kevan Schafer says he’s confident in his team’s chances if they play smart baseball and rely on each other.
“We’re just going to have to play hard. They’re probably pretty good competition,” said Schafer. “Our defence is looking pretty good so far this year, offence isn’t too bad, but as long as we can hold them defensively and get one or two runs a game we can probably pull it off.”
Fellow All-Stars vet Cade Harrison agreed, saying they’ll also have to constantly adapt to whatever Airdrie throws their way in order to secure their spot at nationals.
“We’ve just got to watch their pitching and how they play,” he said. “We’ve just got to expect that they’re going to do stuff we don’t know.”
Cade – who made it to the national stage with Medicine Hat last season – added he’s thrilled to have another chance at reaching the Canadian championship, which he says was an unforgettable experience on and off the diamond.
“It’s a great experience, 10 days in dorms and activities, different provinces from around the country, it’s awesome,” he said, adding he’s happy to have the series at home. “It’s definitely an advantage for us because we practice here, but we’ve still got to play good.”
Coach Harrison says having three players who have been there before has proven valuable to this year’s roster in a number of ways, from drumming up excitement to providing mentorship on the diamond.
“The boys actually learn lots from playing against teams across Canada, not just in our own little backyard. They get to meet kids from all over the place and have a good experience, and it’s really good for the boys to play in those settings,” said Harrison. “It’s a big stage for the boys. It’s nice to be a part of something like that.”
Given the small number of junior AAA baseball teams in Alberta, finding any opponents in the same skill and age brackets can be a challenge. While the predicament left the under-14 All-Stars in a number of matchups against under-15 squads, it allowed them to hone their skills against some higher talent – and on a smaller diamond, strange as it may sound.
“It’s really strange because you’ve got bigger kids playing on a smaller diamond, where we are kind of smaller kids playing on a bigger diamond. It’s hard for the kids to go back and forth but sometimes that’s all we can find,” said Harrison. “We play on the big one, this is 60 feet from the mound and 90-foot bases, just like the major leagues. Then when we go to 15U all over Alberta and Saskatchewan they go to a 54-foot mound and 80-foot bases.”
Coach Harrison added pitching and defence have been the strong points for Medicine Hat so far this season, and he’s hoping that will continue to be the case when they open their best-of-three set against Airdrie.
“Out of the 12 kids we’re pretty confident throwing 10 kids on the mound whenever we need to,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of athletes on this team. Our defence is really solid this year, the infield is solid. We’re really excited about playing some good competition.”
The Junior Little League Canadian Championship will be held in Lethbridge from July 28 to Aug. 4. The winner will advance to represent Canada at the Junior Little League World Series, starting Aug. 11 at Heritage Park in Taylor, Mich.
