The Southeast Performance Pump Services midget AAA Twins took the first step towards coming together as a successful ball club with three days of open tryouts during the past week.
Twenty local ballplayers made it out for the tryouts with all the kids looking to earn a spot on the 15-man roster. The workouts began March 29 at the multipurpose room in the Estevan Leisure Centre then hit the field at Lynn Prime Park on Saturday afternoon before finishing up at the Estevan Comprehensive School gymnasium Monday evening.
“It was awesome,” said second-year Twins’ catcher Rhett Nikolejsin, while taking a moment to relax in the dugout after the three-and-a-half hour full practice at the diamond on Saturday. “Lots of us knocked off the rust and just got through the motions, did our thing, had fun (and) got to know each other a little bit more.”
Twins head coach Blaine Kovach said the focus of these early practices was to just let the players get in as many repetitions as they could. He said the city teams in the 10-team Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) pick their roster in the winter, so they have to get in as much pitching, hitting, fielding and outfielding practise as possible to catch up in time for the start of the SPBL regular season in two-and-a-half weeks.
“Today was a very big day,” said Kovach after the Saturday practice. “You get a whole different view of what the kid can do when it’s not in a gym setting. Being on the field is where you want to see them and this is what we got today. So there were a lot of surprises today and a lot of the kids made a case for making the team this year.”
The Twins finished the 2015 SPBL season with a 13-17 record for sixth place and lost out in round-robin action at the provincial championships. The club begins their quest to improve on that mark April 23 against the Parkland Expos at Yorkton’s Jubilee Park in their first of 14-straight road games to start the season.
“We’re trying to build a successful team not only in the standings, but as quality players so they can get a chance to move on somewhere else,” said Kovach. “I’d love to see us go above .500 and make a push for the provincials, which has always been my expectations and my hope, but as long as we can play and keep producing quality ballplayers and good kids that’s what we really want.”
Kovach said the team will play a game of small ball this season to try and get a leg up on the competition. He said they don’t have a ton of guys who can launch the ball out of the yard, so they’re going to play defensively sound, pick away at teams and beat them one hit at a time.
After the 14-game road stretch to start the season, the Twins will enjoy their first action at Lynn Prime Park on May 29 in a double-header against the Muenster Red Sox. The club will then play their final 12 games of the 30-game SPBL season at home from June 5 to July 9.
Kovach said it’s going to be a busy schedule during the first month of the season being on the road, but that challenge also provides a benefit for the team. He said if they can come out of the first month with an even record through playing high-calibre ball they’ll be primed for a good homestand to end the season.
“If we’re .500-ish, that will give us a good push at the end,” said Nikolejsin. “I think we’ll be just fine. We did pretty good last year and we got most of the core back here this year. We’ll have a well-rounded group and be ready to take it to the competition.”
