Trappers fall to 3-8; eliminated from NSRBL playoffs

Eight of the 13 teams in the league make the playoffs. The four division winners automatically qualify, and then the next four best records also make it. The eight playoff teams are then ranked 1-8 based on their record, not where they finish in their division.

The 6-6-1 Beavers lead the Albers division and can’t be caught by the Trappers even if they win their final three games.

The remaining four spots are given to the next four best teams, regardless of division. Right now, that would be the 7-4-1 Lloydminster Twins, the 7-5 Macklin Lakers, the 7-5 Wilkie Brewers, and 7-7 Meadow Lake Sox. The best record the Trappers could have is 6-8, which is not good enough to crack the top eight.

When it comes to run production, Battlefords doesn’t have numbers that would telling of a 3-8 team. They are much better, in fact. They have only five more runs allowed (77) than runs scored (72).

But far too often they haven’t been able to close it out when it mattered, such as last night when they carried an 8-6 lead into the sixth inning, before the Sox exploded for four runs to take a 10-8 lead.

“Our weak point was just not getting strikes when we needed them,” Hudec said. “We had quite a few walks and you walk a few guys and they get the odd hit, a timely hit, and you see the scoreboard, it can turn the game around very quickly.”

As far as the offensive side of things, the run production was good, but not as timely as it needed to be.

“You have to get the runs in when you get the men on base and that’s something that I think if we look back at the score sheet, we stranded a lot of batters,” Hudec said. “And we have to give their pitchers credit; they threw some good pitches when they needed to and they got some timely outs.

“When it’s a game like this, it’s practically last team to score.”

The playoffs may be out of reach for the club, but many players still have other baseball commitments on the horizon.

Roughly eight players will be headed to Regina for junior provincials on July 21 and five or six players are also going to be trying out for Team Sask’s junior team that will head to nationals in the Ottawa area from August 17 to 21.

In other NSRBL action, the North Battleford Beavers won handily 12-1 on Thursday over the Midwest Expos, which ties them for the Albers division lead with the Sox, although the Sox regular season is now complete and the Beavers have one game remaining, next Thursday.

The Wilkie Brewers beat Macklin 7-1 on Thursday and Edam won 4-3 over St. Walburg.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Trappers fall to 3-8; eliminated from NSRBL playoffs

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