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By Nigel Maxwell

Baseball

U18 Beavers finish second at Provincials

Jul 29, 2024 | 11:45 AM

With a loud and passionate home town crowd cheering them on, the U18 North Battleford Beavers made it all the way to Sunday’s Tier 1 provincials final.

Unfortunately, they came up short, losing 7-4 to Estevan.

Games were played at Ken Nelsen and Civic Centre 4 diamonds, and throughout round robin play, the Beavers were dominant, posting lopsided wins over White Butte (10-0), Prince Albert (13-6), and Weyburn (15-7).

In the semi-finals, the Beavers faced the Regina Blue Jays and won 12-2. Quaid Watson was named player of the game. Speaking with battlefordsNOW on Monday, Head Coach Dean Dimmick acknowledged the loss in the final was a little heartbreaking, but added that going into it, they knew it would be a good battle.

“We had good games against them in regular season, we were fortunate we beat them both games in regular season and unfortunately lost this one and when it counted the most,” he said.

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The Beavers’ bats were deadly all weekend. (Facebook)

The Beavers finished the regular season with a very impressive record of 44-6. Dimmick said all the players came to play and had committed from day one, to winning provincials.

“That’s what impressed me the most. They set some commitments and they stuck to it and they worked hard,” he said.

Each year the Beavers graduate about half their players and next season Dimmick said they expect to have a younger team, given the fact that only two third year players will return.

“But I think we will still be a strong, competitive group moving forward,” he said.

With respect to season highlights, Dimmick recalled the team’s first loss was to an Academy team in Calgary, at a Sherwood Park tournament that went to extra innings. The team also won a big tournament in Melville which represented a good precursor to provincials. Dimmick said the thing that stood out for him all season with this group of kids is they were truly a team.

“They all hung out together; they all got along well. We didn’t see any any real micro groups. And that was kind of the cool thing to to see how they all got along and and they all had one goal in mind.”

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell