The Estevan Drillers may have lost their final game of the senior baseball tournament they hosted on the weekend but it wasn’t because they ran out of willing arms in their bullpen.
The Estevan team lost the C final of the over-45 Twilite Masters tournament 13-0 to the Weyburn Merchants and used a few different pitchers in the game, partly because they needed to after a lot of arms were used in the three previous games but clearly a lot wanted to in their tournament.
Probably another reason was that Mets Field ended up being a good host for the tournament, which was won by the Northeast Athletics.
“The ball teams like to come here,” said tourmament organizer Joe Lingelbach. “It’s a smaller diamond and it’s got a grass infield. You don’t get many bad hops. If you get a guy falling down in the outfield, it’s not a bad injury it’s just bouncing back up.”
The Drillers won 15-5 over the Eden Valley Senators and lost 9-6 to the Regina Drifters Friday and then lost 8-7 to the Northeast Athletics, the eventual winners, Saturday.
The Drillers, who can field both an over-35 and an over-45 team, were often helping out with field maintenance between games.
“A lot of the players are the same players,” Lingelbach said. “It’s really easy for them. They help out all weekend long.”
There was a lot to do at the diamonds over the weekend. There was a food concession and beverage tent that was busy all weekend, as games started at 8 a.m. and sometimes went until 8 that evening.
“I don’t think we’ve had any serious altercations,” Lingelbach said. “We had a little bit of rain (Sunday) morning but we go that taken care of and it turned out pretty good.”
One game Saturday slowed down due to the rain that hit in the late afternoon but it wasn’t too big of a deal and the field was readied.
“The players were really happy with how the fields turned out, even with the rain and stuff,” he said.
Lingelbach works on the diamond on a volunteer, even during Southeast Fireballs season for the Saskota Baseball League. Other volunteers filled in as needed for various roles in the tournament.
“Estevan is a great town for volunteers,” he said. “We have people come out and help us all the time. There’s no shortage.”
