Left to right, Corson Harris, Kyle Donaldson and Dallas McGrath of Kindersley take the time for a group photo at a ball diamond in St. Thomas, Ont., during the 2018 21U Men’s Championship presented annually by Baseball Canada. The local players all pitched in one game during the tournament.

Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

Three of Kindersley’s finest young ball players have returned after playing for their province and they all say the tournament was an awesome experience.

Kyle Donaldson, Corson Harris and Dallas McGrath played for Team Saskatchewan in the 2018 21U Men’s Championship on Aug. 16-19 in St. Thomas, Ont. Team Saskatchewan went 1-3 after its four round robin games and missed the finals, but all of the games were relatively close.

The team opened with a 6-2 win over Nova Scotia, and then followed it up with a 6-5 loss against the host team from St. Thomas, a 4-1 loss against Windsor and a 6-2 loss against Québec in the national tournament. Mississauga defeated Windsor in the final. Four of the 10 teams in the tournament were from Ontario.

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All three players from Kindersley pitched in a game with Donaldson pitching two and two-third innings in the win against Nova Scotia, Harris pitching two innings in the 6-5 loss to St. Thomas and McGrath pitching one and two-third innings in the St. Thomas game.

Donaldson was the only player to record plate appearances and he ended up reaching on an error while going 0-2 at the plate. After the tournament, Team Saskatchewan braved the busiest highway in Canada, Highway 401, to take in a Blue Jays game.

The three players are all members of the Kindersley Stallions of the Fertile Valley Baseball League. Harris, a southpaw on the mound, said he had a great time at the tournament and he could be heading to Gatineau, Que. to play for Team Saskatchewan in the 2019 21U Men’s Championship.

“I loved it over there,” he said, recognizing that it is an amazing part of the country. “I guess it was just a lot of fun and a great experience. I’ll definitely want to go back next year to Gatineau.”

Harris said both he and McGrath are eligible to play in the tournament again in 2019. The coach told both players he wants to see them back in Saskatchewan green next year, and he said he believes both he and his teammate would be excited to have another crack at the tournament.

He noted that the opening ceremonies did not happen because it was raining and the team’s first game on Thursday was postponed until early on Friday morning, so the guys did not get to hit the field for a while. However, he said it was a cool experience and a great opportunity to walk onto the field wearing a Team Saskatchewan uniform.

The team played three of its four games on the main diamond used for the tournament, and Harris said the amazing field is one of the better diamonds he has ever had the opportunity to play on. He enjoyed meeting all of his teammates.

“It was a great group of people and we could all get along really easily,” he said of his teammates, recognizing that he is likely to keep in touch with all of them in the future. “It seemed like, when we got there, we already knew each other really well and it’s good to have that on a team.”

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