The Estevan Steel Reef under-11 AAA Brewers baseball team opened their season by winning the B event of their home tournament at Cactus Park.
Estevan opened the tournament May 4 with a pair of losses against the Weyburn Beavers and the Yorkton Cardinals.
But they recovered the following day, defeating the White Butte Broncos to reach the B final, which they also won 18-14 over the Moose Jaw Canucks.
Coach Darcy Henry said they played well as a team. Their pitching is young and they had to use a lot of arms, but the pitching was still solid.
“We hit even better, and ran the bases really well. We think we did every facet of the game fairly well, but there’s still lots to learn,” he said.
Confidence was the biggest difference between their play May 4 and 5. The games were the first at the AAA level for many of their players, and they didn’t know what to expect.
“I think they played better today (May 5), knowing what they were going into,” said Henry. “We knew we were playing for a medal, so the kids really got up for that, and played well to get that medal.”
Each year the Brewers want to host a tournament to start the season, making it a spring training type of setting for the competing teams.
He believes the Haulers have left themselves with room to improve, and their looking forward to getting back on the field.
Henry pointed out that even though it was a cool and windy weekend, there was some good baseball.
The Cardinals defeated the Swift Current 57s in the A event 14-13, while the Broncos defeated the Weyburn Beavers 10-0 in the C event.
