The Kenosee Cubs saved their best for the end of the baseball season.
The Cubs defeated their Saskota Baseball League rivals, the Kipling Royals, 7-3 in the final of the Senior AA Tier 6 provincial championships on Aug. 13 in Hanley.
The Cub went 3-0 in the round robin, as they defeated the Royals, the Regina Red Dogs and the host Hanley White Sox to punch their ticket for the final, where they faced the Royals for the second time that weekend.
Trevor Latham with the Cubs said they played great in all facets of the game at provincials.
“We kind of underachieved all year, so it felt pretty good to be clicking on all cylinders once we got there,” he said.
The level of play they reached at provincials was what Latham they were capable of in the Saskota league. But he said they didn’t hit the ball well during the season, which is why they finished eighth in the standings with a 4-10-2 record.
“We’d have good pitching and good defence, and our hitting just wasn’t there,” he lamented. “That weekend (at provincials), everybody, from top to bottom, all the way through the order hit the ball really hard every time through the lineup.”
The Cubs scored five runs in the first inning of their opening game, he said, and carried the momentum through the weekend.
Pitching and defence remained strong at provincials. Latham noted that Blake Weatherald had a strong showing in the team’s opening game against Kipling on the mound, and then tossed a complete game in the final.
The level of competition wasn’t as strong as they thought it would be. Kipling was a tough team to play, he said, which wasn’t a surprised considering they split their regular season league games. The Hanley team was fairly new in their league, but they’re young and building. The Regina team wasn’t as strong as they expected.
“We just played really, really well,” said Latham. “I think we could have played at a higher level and done well there as well.”
Latham believes the weekend at provincials showed how good the Saskota League really is. The Cubs beat another Saskota team in the final. Redvers was in the final at their tournament in Gull Lake, and the Arcola Threshers played great in that competition as well. And if the Estevan Tower Wolves and the Oxbow Chiefs would have gone to their provincial tournaments, he expects they would have challenged for a provincial title, too.
