The Oyen Eagles gather for their team photo (above) after winning the senior men’s division at the 33rd annual Red Lion Inn and Cold Beer & Wine Store Western Canadian Oldtimers & Senior Men’s Baseball Championship held from July 13-15 in Kindersley. Front row, left to right: Braden Smigelski, Taylor Peers, Landon Olsen, Scott Olsen, Jarvis Smigelski, Travis Smigelski and Aaron Anderson. Back row, left to right: Dayne Hryciw, Steve Paetz, Levi Westerlund, Chris Jorgenson, Dawson Ruschowski and Curtis Beaudoin.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The Oyen Eagles have finally won the senior men’s A final at a tournament held each year in town. The Regina Drifters beat a local team to win the 43+ title.
The 33rd annual Red Lion Inn and Cold Beer & Wine Store Western Canadian Oldtimers & Senior Men’s Baseball Championship was held last weekend in Kindersley. A total of 12 teams in two divisions battled it out over three days from July 13-15.
It was a great weekend for baseball with only minor concerns from the weather. Friday was a scorcher at more than 30C and Saturday was cool and windy, but Sunday was nearly the perfect day for baseball with sunshine, moderate heat and a solid breeze to cool down the players on the fields.
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The four teams in the senior men’s division were the Eagles, Border City Jays from Lloydminster, Red Deer Northstars and Kindersley Raiders. Pool A of the 43+ division had the Edmonton Eskimos, Provost Buds, Spring Lake Masters and the Kindersley Klippers. Pool B had the Drifters, Medicine Hat Blue Jays, Red Deer Legends and Sask. Sportsmen.
Oyen and Lloydminster tied 4-4 in their round robin game and both teams won their games against Kindersley and Red Deer in the senior men’s division. Oyen went on to win the ‘A’ final against Lloydminster by a score of 11-3.
The Eagles were the runner up in the tournament each of the previous two years, but they took down the defending A final champions in Lloydminster by a convincing margin. Kindersley defeated Red Deer 11-4 in the other senior men’s final between the third and fourth place teams.
In the 43+ division, the Klippers went 3-0 in the round robin with wins against Provost (17-3), Spring Lake (5-1) and Edmonton (4-2). Regina also went 3-0 in the round robin with wins against Red Deer (16-2), the Sportsmen (11-3) and Medicine Hat (15-9).
Regina was up early in the 43+ A final and the team never looked back. The Drifters were the home team and they had an early 3-1 lead, but their lead was stretched out to 11-3 by the home half of the fifth inning to put an early end to the game. In other 43+ finals, Edmonton defeated the Sportsmen in the B final, Medicine Hat defeated Spring Lake in the C final and Red Deer defeated Provost in the D final.
The Klippers host the tournament with help from volunteers and members of the Raiders. Ken Barrows of the Klippers, a spokesperson for the tournament, said the weekend went “very well” and the weather was especially nice, so organizers did not have to adjust the schedule.
He recognized that it is not uncommon for it to rain during part of the weekend. He said it is normal for the 43+ division to have eight teams, but the senior men’s division was short two teams from previous years, so there were four teams instead of six teams. The teams were mainly pleased overall.
“Most of the teams were quite happy,” Barrows said, adding that it was a successful weekend and organizers were also pleased by the support from fans. “The diamonds were in good shape and the ball was fun. It was good.”
A couple of senior men’s teams cancelled close to the date of the tournament, he said. There was a waiting list, but teams on the waiting list were also unable to field a team for the tournament. Organizers are looking at options to split the 43+ division into 40+ and 50+ divisions to make games as competitive as possible, Barrows said.
As for the Klippers, he said the team has won its share of A finals and B finals in recent years. He noted that the A final game was disappointing for the hosts because they had played very well in their three round robin games.
Barrows said the team got through a tough pool to reach the A final, but the guys laid a bit of an egg in the final. The team had run out of pitching by Sunday afternoon’s final and guys made too many errors. Organizers want to thank sponsors, volunteers and Kindersley Minor Ball for maintaining the diamonds.
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