Saltcoats Regional Park was a busy place this weekend as the town hosted the 2021 11U AA Tier 6 Provincial Baseball Championship.
And after three days of action the Gravelbourg Lightning emerged the champions with a 16-12 win over the Carnduff Astros in the finals.
The Lightning had made it to the final in a close semi-final win over Macklin 4-2, while Carnduff edged the Muenster Red Sox in the other semi final.
The host Saltcoats Lakers managed only one win in three pool games and missed the playoff action Sunday.
Friday the Lakers lost to the Grenfell Gems 3-2.
The local Lakers got into the win column in the 10:30 a.m. game Saturday with a 12-9 win over Humboldt.
The Lakers would drop their third game 12-1 to Carnduff.
The three-day event has 10 teams competing from across the province, and was an event Laker coach Mike Farquharson said was needed.
“Everybody loves to see active kids. This was a showcase of that, 10 teams of active kids,” he said. “. . . You could feel their excitement. It was great seeing kids that were happy. There was a sense of normalcy.”
As for the Lakers not being in the playoffs Farquharson said with players so young there are “ebbs and flows to the games” but in the end he was proud of the local charges.
“The kids played really well. They should be holding their heads very high,” he said.
Other teams to play in the event were Meadow Lake Sox, Lanigan Pirates and the Luseland A’s.
