ESTEVAN - A busy summer for ball in Estevan is about to continue, as the Estevan Minor Baseball Association is getting ready to host a pair of provincial tournaments from July 19-21 at Mel Murray Cactus Park.
One competition is the 15U AA Tier 1 tournament, which will bring seven teams to the Energy City, and the other is the 11U Tier 2 B competition, which will boast nine teams. Estevan was supposed to host the U11 AA Tier 1 tournament as well, but it had to be relocated when the Estevan U11 Brewers were slotted into AAA provincials.
"We were awarded it and everything was ready to go, but then Baseball Regina forced them [the Brewers] to go AAA, and we lost out," said Mel Murray with Estevan Minor Baseball.
Estevan will have a host team in both the U11 Tier 2 B and the U15 AA events. The U15 team won the Baseball Regina league and playoff titles, while the U11 team is comprised of players from the different house league teams. They have had a couple of exhibition games to get ready for the tournament.
Games in both tournaments will start at 11 a.m. on July 19. A round robin will happen on July 19 and 20 to decide who will advance to the playoffs. Gold medal games are slated for 1 p.m. on July 21 for the U15 division, and 3:30 p.m. in the U11 division.
The U11 Brewers will play the Regina Athletics on July 19 at 2 p.m., the Sask Five Giants Steelers on July 20 at noon, and the Saskatoon Blue Jay Bombers on July 20 at 6 p.m.
The U15 AA Brewers will play the Sask Five Giants at 11 a.m. and the Prince Albert Royals at 2 p.m. on July 19.
Opening ceremonies for the two tournaments will be July 19 at 5:15 p.m. The 1997 Estevan U15 AAA team that won the provincial championship and went on to nationals in North Bay, Ont., will participate in throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
Mel Murray with Estevan Minor Baseball said preparations are coming together well. Volunteers have stepped forward to make the tournament happen.
"People are signing up to do the liming and scorekeeping, everything," said Murray.
New shale has been applied to the ball diamonds. A work bee will be taking place on July 18 to set up the tent and complete any last-minute work on the diamonds.
Kevin Culy is the umpire in chief for this zone, Murray said, and the tournament will use a lot of local umpires that have been training under him.
Murray expects the baseball will be pretty good during the tournament. The U15 AA tournament should be really good, and he predicted the U11 teams should be evenly matched.
He predicted the tournament would provide a boost for the local economy. Hotel rooms are booked throughout the city, and not only will the players for the different teams be coming to Estevan, but their family members will also be in the city.
"Some teams are taking 20 rooms. It really helps the hotels. It's going to help the restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, and it shows. We've been doing the program, and the support we get … from all of the companies, Estevan's always been fantastic."
