Look right in the middle and you’ll find the Southeast As smack dab in the middle of the Baseball Regina bantam AAA league standings.
The Alameda-based baseball team has had some success this year after an early stretch of losses. They are 3-5-2 after last Thursday’s 1-1 tie in Weyburn.
“We had a lot of games right off the bat and we’ve had a bit of a lull here the last three weeks,” said coach Trent Dorrence. “Starting… Sunday is when we’re really going to ramp forward here to the end of the season.”
Dorrence said they had some problems beating Swift Current, who he feels will be the top team in the league, but have had success lately.
“That was our first four games of the year and we kind of starting off slow,” he said. “But since them we’ve been playing a little better than .500 ball. We played Weyburn the other night and the team’s been very solid but our bats kind of go cold every now and then. We need to spruce that up and get that going a little smoother.”
The schedule was set up this way for them by design, said Dorrence.
“We wanted to push the arms a little bit and get guys in game shape early,” he said. “They held up very well to kind of repair and rest arms and we worked on the little things that we need to work on… some of the batting issues we’ve had. So we’ve been working on that the last few weeks, so now the last half of the season we’ll hopefully capitalize on what we’ve been working on.”
Dorrence has five first year players added to eight-second year players. He said the first year players have fit in very well so far this year. They have only had regular season action so far as the first tournament they play in isn’t till the first week of July and then the following weekend in Melville.
“Then we’ll have a few more league games and then go on to league playoffs and provincials,” he said.
The As went to bantam AA Tier I provincials last year, and had some success there with a silver medal, but Dorrence expects them to be in AAA provincials this season.
“How we’ve competed so far, we should easily fit into AAA,” he said. “Our second year kids have matured a lot and the pitching has come a long ways from last year. We’re not making the simple mistakes we made last year. Defensively we’re more crisp and we’re not giving up easy runs.”
The As play at home in Alameda Sunday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. against White Butte
