UNITY – The regular season of minor ball leagues has now ended and is making way for the provincial ball teams to show off their stuff.
There were five tournaments over the weekend of July 5, 6 and 7 throughout the province, with teams traveling to Delisle, Saskatoon, Meadow Lake, Regina and Macklin.
In Regina, the U20 C tournament had only two teams compete, the Regina Revenge and the Macklin Lakers. The Lakers were unable to secure the gold medal after the Revenge beat them out in the first two games of a best-of-three round robin.
For the U17 C tournament, Macklin was chosen for the first time to host the age division, which meant local spectators did not have to travel far for this year’s tournament. With six teams participating in a round robin on days one and two, the championship round came down to four games on Sunday. The Kindersley Royals went head-to-head with the Northeast Riverdogs, where the Riverdogs were able to overthrow the Royals from the top seed. The Lakers competed against the Rosetown Angels for the second time, having played them at the opening game. The Lakers took the win with a 10-0 score before going onto the gold medal game against the Riverdogs. The Lakers secured the win with a score of 13-8, making them the Provincial gold medalists.
Delisle was buzzing as they hosted an additional 30 teams for the U13 C Provincial Championship. The Unity Panthers and Macklin Lakers attended the tournament, where they each played three games in the round robin. The Unity Panthers won all three of their games, putting them at the top of their pool and securing a spot in the championship rounds. Although the Macklin Lakers did well, the one game they lost out on put them out of the running for the title.
The Panthers played their first championship game against the Gravelbourg Lightning, with a close game ending in a win at 18-17. The team was then matched against the Wynyard Blues, where the girls were not able to find a way to win and were funneled into the bronze medal game against one of the Twin City Angels teams. The girls found their grit once again, taking the lead in their final game and became victorious, earning the bronze medals. The Wynyard Blues went on to finish on top as the gold medalists.
The Unity and Macklin U11 B teams were also on the road to Meadow Lake. The Macklin Lakers played a total of four games, coming home with a 2-2 win-loss record after the weekend and the Panthers played three games, with a 1-2 record at the tournament.
The Kerrobert Tigers U11 A team played in Saskatoon as well, but was unable to advance past the round robin games.
