A solid season of ball comes to an end for Minor and Senior AA All-Stars

By JAMES TUBB on September 1, 2021.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Even without any hardware, the Minor and Senior AA all-Stars’ seasons were a success.

Both teams wrapped up their year this past weekend and were simply happy to even be able to play baseball this season.

“The kids played really hard and learned a lot this year,” said Minor AA coach Greg Elgie.

The Minor All-Stars, aged between eight to 10-years-old, went 1-3 in their year-end tournament but still enjoyed their own success away from the scoreboard.

“Just watching the kids grow and improve as baseball players and athletes is the thing I think stands out the most at this age and that’s really fun to see,” Elgie said.

His team won their first game of the tournament 16-12 against Community Park. The Minor AA all-stars followed the victory up with three losses, two at the helm of Norcrest (12-7 and 22-7) and one against Cal West (14-4).

“As the kids went on through the season, I think we saw a lot of growth and they had a lot of fun. So, I think they really enjoyed the year,” Elgie said.

The Senior AA All-Stars fell short in head coach Darrell Fischer’s eye, but were just happy to be on the field.

“We were blessed to play again, the kids had nothing last summer,” he said.

His senior team lost a large amount of its older players amid last season’s COVID-19 shutdowns as those who could work, did over the summer or simply didn’t know baseball was being played.

“We had a young team, not a lot of older kids tried out. Not a lot of people thought there’d be a season,” Fischer said.

The young team faced adversity heading into the year-end tournament as half the team fell to sickness and had to undergo COVID testing in the week leading up. Fischer says some of his players weren’t cleared to play until Friday, “the whole week was a wash.”

The Senior AA All-Stars lost their first game against Calgary North West 14-12 and led the whole game against Centennial before eventually falling 13-12 and ending their season. For Fischer, he says even with the losses his young team still played hard.

“Regardless of the score, they worked hard.”

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