NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks outfielder Micah Dvorak swings under a pitch during an at bat in a 9-7 win at Athletic Park over the Regina Red Sox on June 27.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Where oh where has the season gone?
The Medicine Hat Mavericks crossed the halfway point of the 2025 WCBL season Tuesday night with a 3-2 win at Sylvan Lake over the Gulls to kick off their six-game road trip through the West division.
“It’s exciting but depressing at the same time,” head coach Jonathon Thornhill said. “Because you enjoy this group, you enjoy being around the people that are involved with it but at the same time, it’s how it goes, day by day. So just making sure that we all continue to enjoy it each day is what’s most important.”
The Mavs entered play Wednesday back at Sylvan Lake with an 18-10 record, good for second in the East division, 5.5 games back of the WCBL-leading Saskatoon Berries. They started the season red hot with a five-game win streak while piling up runs, going 13-10 following the first few weeks.
Tuesday’s win at Sylvan Lake described their battled-tests first half Thornhill says, with all five runs in the game scored in the first three innings before the Mavs’ defence and pitchers’ Danny Retzlaff and Xander Roberts held the Gulls at bay for the win.
“So things may not be going our way offensively but we’ve been in that position a little bit a couple times throughout the summer,” Thornhill said. “Guys know if we can still hold this, they don’t panic. There’s lot of good teams in this league and it’s been fun competing with them.
“These guys have definitely had that chip on their shoulder from last year, those veteran guys have led that and making sure others know this is the goal and let’s get after it. It’s been fun to watch.”
With the calendar flipped into July and the second half in front of them, Thornhill says they have learned what the group can do, how their bodies react and who can play a string of games in a row and who can’t. All the efforts moving forward are directed at getting right when the postseason begins Aug. 6.
There is no ask he has from his group with the second half in front of them, Thornhill wants the Mavs to continue having fun and playing ball like they have and know they can.
“The rough days have been because they’ve pressed too much and gotten away from their game that they enjoy playing,” Thornhill said. “They’ve seen that and then once they bounce back to just what is my role, what is my job today, what does the team need from me and enjoying every moment of it is essential. If you enjoy what you do, everything else will take care of itself, but the moment you put pressure on yourself in a game where it already requires enough of it, that’s going to create issues that you don’t want to have.
So they just need to keep going out, having fun, staying loose and enjoying it.”
Wednesday’s game at Sylvan Lake was not complete by press time, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story. The Mavs are back in action tonight at Fort McMurray against the Giants for the first of a two-game set that wraps Friday. They’ll head to Spruce Grove to face the Energy City Cactus Rats on Saturday and Sunday before returning to Athletic Park.
Thornhill says they feel the support from Medicine Hat and are already looking forward to getting back to AP.
“Greg and his team, the fans, everybody back at Med Hat, do a great job of welcoming us when they’re home and we know they’re supporting us back home as well, and it’s great to have that support,” Thornhill said. “It’s just been an awesome summer up to this point, it’s been a lot of fun, great memories and the right memories being made. We look forward to create more going forward.”
