Pictured L-R: Top row: Bob Hudec (Trappers), Aaron Cadrin (Beavers), Andrew Hudec (Trappers). Bottom row: Skyler Dimmick (Beavers), Gavin Nolin (Trappers), Kyle Gregoire (Beavers). All six will be part of the North Battleford provincial team. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Senior baseball's best

Beavers/Trappers to join forces for senior baseball provincials

Jul 28, 2021 | 6:17 PM

The City of North Battleford will be a senior baseball hotbed next weekend with Men’s Senior AA Tier 2 provincials held in the community.

Taking place August 6-8, with games at Beaver Lions Stadium and the other local diamonds, Andrew Hudec of the Battlefords Trappers said having the chance to host the tournament this year in front of the hometown crowd should only be a boon to the team in their performance.

“The locals always come out and support the ball teams, so to be able to take a run at a provincial championship in front of the local fans should give us that little extra boost,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting.”

While many teams will send a club reminiscent of their North Sask. River Baseball League team from the season, the North Battleford Beavers and Battlefords Trappers will join forces to form one hybrid squad featuring a mix of the top players from both teams to represent the local community.

From the Beavers, the team will include: Kelly Bailargeon, Aaron Cadrin, Quinton Cubbon, Skyler Dimmick, Bryce Gatzke, Blair Geering, Kyle Gregoire, Connor Neave, Kyle Palmer, Damon Schaefer, and Darvin Scheidl. Brennan Lampitt will also assist Gregoire with the coaching duties.

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Trappers players will include: Masen Carierre, Andrew Hudec, Bob Hudec, Matt Hudec, Gavin Nolin, Mike Ross, and Jared Schmidt.

Trappers player-coach Gavin Nolin said while the local rivalry is fun, it’s always a good time when the teams can come together to play.

“Throughout the years they’re obviously one of our biggest rivals and they’re always a game we want to win. But at the end of the day, we’re all just a bunch of guys out there playing ball and we all get along pretty well,” Nolin said. “It’s always a lot of fun [to team up] and it sure does make for a pretty competitive team.”

This will mark the third year the Beavers and Trappers have combined forces for provincials. The team finished runner up for provincial gold in 2019 falling in the championship game to the Parkland Pirates.

Player-coach for the North Battleford Beavers, Kyle Gregoire said having made it as far as they did in their last provincial appearance pre-pandemic, the team is feeling confident heading into this years’ provincial competition.

“Hopefully we can make a good run for it again this year as we have a lot of the same guys with a few more new players too. So we should have a good opportunity at that tournament,” Gregoire said.

North Battleford’s first game will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6 versus Standard Hill. At 8 p.m., the team will play Parkland in a rematch of the 2019 provincial final for a chance to advance into the playoff rounds Saturday.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1