PHOTO COURTESY MEDICINE HAT MAVERICKS
The Medicine Hat U13 Junior Mavs are off to Nationals as Team Alberta after beating the District 3 Tigers 6-2 on Saturday to capture the district title.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Jr. Mavs get another chance on the national stage.
The U13 Jr. Mavs captured provincial glory over the weekend, beating the U13 District 3 Tigers 6-2 on Saturday to win the Intermediate Division and earn themselves a spot at the national intermediate tournament hosted in Kingston, Ont. starting Wednesday.
It’ll be a return trip for a majority of the team who represented Alberta at the national Little League tournament with the U12AAA Major Mavs last year. That team went a perfect 7-0 through the tournament, also held in Kingston, losing 10-1 to Team B.C., falling just short of representing Canada at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.
Jr. Mavs assistant coach Trevor Bishop wasn’t at the helm of that team, his son Diesel played on a different team last season before joining the Jr. Mavs this year. He says the team shows a readiness for the tournament.
“For them to go back a second year in a row has got to be pretty special, not a lot of people in their baseball careers can say they went back-to-back Canadians,” Bishop said. “For those boys, they’re ready for a second chance at it. They feel like they have a little bit of unfinished business to take care of, I heard that comment come out a couple of times (Saturday), after it all ended that we’re heading back to the same place, same field, but we have one more piece of piece of business to take care of, and then it’s complete.
“They’re excited, my boy is obviously very excited, he wasn’t a part of that last year and missed out on a little bit but opportunity came knocking again here so he’s excited. I’m excited for him, it’s going to be something they cherish for the rest of their lives.”
The Jr. Mavs beat the District 3 Tigers 15-8 on Wednesday before beating the District 1 Diamondbacks 11-1 on Friday, setting up Saturday’s final. The District 1 Tigers would have had to beat the Jr. Mavs twice to move on, something Bishop says would’ve been difficult with the depth they have.
“We had so many guys available, we have a group of 12 kids and all 12 of them can throw the ball,” Bishop said. “We trust them all to put them in at any point in time in the game. Nobody’s a real shoe in anywhere, it’s a real team atmosphere.
“They pick each other up and if for whatever reason if somebody’s getting off track, they typically take care of it themselves. So I’d say they’re beyond their years in maturity.”
They’ll open the Intermediate nationals, against the Quebec Little League team on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. MST.
With a majority of the team having the nationals experience under their belts already, Bishop says the first year players will have an easier time settling into the tournament.
“It’s just a special group because they deal with their emotions quite a bit different than I’ve seen some older groups,” Bishop said. “They rise to the occasion and they have each other’s back, which is hard to put together a team of 12-13-year-old boys and have them all on the same page and clicking the same. We’re not seeing a bunch of broken pieces, it’s a group here.”
The Jr. Mavs had Monday for a light practice before they get on a flight Tuesday to head to Kingston for the opening game. Bishop represented Saskatchewan growing up and played at the Canadian level alongside Jr. Mavs head coach and Medicine Hat Mavericks owner and general manager Greg Morrison. Bishop’s oldest son Kane is representing Alberta at the Canada Summer Games in August. He says getting the chance to represent the province is an opportunity to cherish.
“You gotta be on your best behaviour, make people proud and these boys should be honoured to get to do that,” Bishop said. “People dream of getting to go to events like this and it never happens. So to be able to do it two years in a row and put that crest back on, It’s special.”
The Jr. Mavs will face the Atlantic team Thursday at the same time before taking on the Ontario team Friday at noon MST. The Jr. Mavs will face the B.C. team on July 19 at 8:30 a.m. before taking on the host Kingston Colts for a noon MST game, their final round robin game.
The playoffs start July 22 with the finals on July 23. The winner of the national tournament will represent Canada at the Little League Intermediate championship held in Livermore, Calif. from July 27-Aug. 3.
