By TERRY PUGH
The Sask Valley Blue Jays gave it their best shot, but came up short at the U17 Men’s Canadian Fastpitch Championships in Surrey, British Columbia August 5-9.
The Blue Jays, based in Laird, won the provincial U17 Softball Championship in Prince Albert in mid-July, with a convincing win over the host Prince Albert Astros.
That win qualified the Blue Jays for a berth in the national competition. The Astros also represented Saskatchewan at the event.
The Brookfield Elks, based in Ontario, emerged as the national champions on the final day of the tournament on Sunday, August 9 with a 5-1 win over the Quebec U17 team.
The Blue Jays got off to a rough start in their opening game August 5, dropping an 11-3 decision to one of the Ontario teams, the Tara Twins.
The next day, they fell 8-5 to another Ontario squad, the Tavistock Athletics,;but they bounced back later that afternoon with a convincing 11-1 drubbing of the Yukon Sundogs.
On August 7, the Blue Jays were edged 3-2 by the Quebec Releve and then lost 4-2 to the Brookfield Elks.
The Blue Jays ended the round-robin portion of the tournament on a high note with an 8-1 victory over the host team, the Cache Creek Chaos on August 8. But the win wasn’t enough to qualify them for the playoff round.
The Sask Valley Blue Jays team includes: Madden Dueck and Holden Funk, both from Laird; Rhys Curren, Anthony Dingwall and Eli Ens of Rosthern; Eli Marshall of Hague; Kaleb Romanchuk, Micah Green and Will Standish of Wakaw; Avery Duret of Warman; Alex Poirier of Debden, and Chase Zimmer of Langham.
In addition to Dueck, the coaching staff includes: Assistant Coach Dave Prout of Saskatoon, Assistant Coach Allan Zimmer of Langham, and Assistant Coach Harley Bergen of Neuanlage.
The Prince Albert Astros, with a record of 3 wins and 2 losses during the national tournament round robin, did qualify for the playoffs, but were eliminated early by the Tara Twins.