PHOTO COURTESY MEDICINE HAT MAVERICKS' X
The U13 Medicine Hat Mavs lost 8-2 in the Little League National Finals on Wednesday, losing to Team B.C.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
For the second straight summer, a Medicine Hat Little League team falls short of representing Canada with a loss to Team B.C.
The Medicine Hat U13 Mavs lost 8-2 on Wednesday, finishing second in the Little League National Intermediate finals held in Kingston, Ont., losing to a team from the Fraser Valley, B.C., the District 3 Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds will represent Canada at the Little League Intermediate championship held in Livermore, Calif. starting Sunday.
A core of the U13 Mavs team lost to a team from Langley, B.C. at the Little League Championship last year, also held in Kingston. Head coach Greg Morrison says he hopes the back-to-back trips to nationals aren’t a one off for Little League baseball in Medicine Hat and he says these summers will live on forever for the players.
“I hope that Medicine Hat can carve out a little bit of a niche and keep developing their ball players and maybe it is every few years they get to come to Nationals and get to the national finals,” Morrison said. “Just with the relationship the Mavericks have had with Little League and I’ll keep that going, but these players, hopefully they’ll continue to go on and be successful.
“As kids mature through the high school and American Legion programs, they’ll kind of get separated a little bit. But there’s some leaders here, these kids, they can take this stuff and those experiences, and it pays off in every walk of life.”
The Mavs scored first in the finals, putting up a goose egg in the top of the inning before Madden Ellis and Blake Harris scored on wild pitches in the bottom of the frame for the 2-0 lead.
B.C. scored in five consecutive innings, with three runs in the third and two in the second, adding solo tallies in the last three innings of the game. Medicine Hat had an uncharacteristic showing in the final, being held to just one hit and also committing five errors.
“We didn’t play perfect baseball defensively, a couple ground balls that any other day of the week we may have made them, but I told the boys, ‘unfortunately we probably had to play closer to perfect to beat that team and baseball is not built to be playing perfect.'” Morrison said. “It’s just not the way it is, that’s why they have a column for errors, it happens so often. So it’s about growth for these guys and it’s tough but we’re proud of them, just like everybody is.
“They got to the finals and that’s one other thing I said to them, probably a lot of people expected that we should be at these finals, but it’s not that easy to get to the finals.”
Diesel Bishop started the game on the mound, throwing four innings with a strikeout. Ellis came out of the bullpen and worked three frames with six strikeouts.
Morrison has worked with this U13 Mavs group for a couple of seasons and he continues to be impressed with their growth and development.
“I’m a big supporter of Medicine Hat’s community baseball approach and I think we’re showing well to Canada, that we can develop good baseball players out of Medicine Hat all the way from that eight-year-old all the way up to the 23-year-old Maverick, when you have guys like Evan Morrison. So we’re pretty proud of Medicine Hat and baseball, specifically from my vantage point of the organization.”
He says they felt the support from the city throughout their run, winning at Districts to earn the opportunity to represent Alberta at the Little League Intermediate Nationals. Morrison says people in the city didn’t have to support them but they are grateful for the support.
“These kids have won over some hearts of Hatters, just the guys that are reaching out to me from my extended family to coaches to Mavs players to community sponsors, people who I’ve crossed paths with, it’s crazy,” Morrison said. “They really have gotten behind what we’re doing because I think they really believe in what we’re doing. It’s for the good of sport and the good of the kids and development.”
The U13 Mavs finish the summer with a 35-11 record, two of their season losses coming at the National level to Team B.C. Morrison says the players, disappointed with the loss, were already looking forward to their next wiffle ball game at the hotel before they fly out today.
“That’s a cool age to be at and those are the memories they’re going to have,” Morrison said. “You guys might remember your loss, but you’ll remember having those wiffle ball games outside the coach’s room.”
