Marlins grateful for second chance at 13U Westerns
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/08/2023 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Brandon Marlins hadn’t even taken to the field in Kelowna, B.C., for their first game at the 13-and-under Western Canadian Baseball Championship on Aug. 18 when they got the bad news.
As a result of the devastating wildfires in nearby West Kelowna, the tournament was going to be cancelled with only a single contest between the Consort (Alta.) Cubs and the Kelowna Sun Devils being completed.
“The boys were heartbroken and devastated,” Marlins head coach Ryan Reid said. “Nobody knew what to do and there were a lot of tears shed.
Reid Nicol of the Brandon Marlins celebrates his home run against South Central with his teammates in the 13-and-under bronze medal game at the Triple Crown Showdown at Simplot Millennium Park in July. The Marlins are headed to Prince Albert, Sask., on Friday to compete in the 13-and-under Western Canadian Baseball Championship, which was originally slated to be held in Kelowna, B.C., earlier this month but was cancelled due to wildfires. (Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun)
“After that, we were immediately scrambling to get home, which was a bit of a challenge, but once we got back it was feeling of, ‘Well, I guess that’s it.’”
However, the Marlins are going to get a second crack at the tournament.
The Prince Albert Royals – who were also competing in Kelowna – stepped up to the plate to host the event, which begins Friday and runs through Sunday at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex in the northern Saskatchewan city.
“They went through all of the same things we did and they threw it out there that they were interested in hosting about a day-and-a-half after everyone got back,” Reid said.
“If you’ve hosted any kind of tournament, you know that there’s a ludicrous amount of work and a ton of hours, planning and prep that goes into it.
“A huge shoutout goes to the Royals and everyone in Prince Albert. It’s pretty big for them to step up like that.”
The Marlins, Royals and Cubs are all back for another chance at the Westerns, but the Sun Devils and the North Delta Rays aren’t making the trek to Prince Albert from British Columbia.
They will be replaced by the Saskatchewan-based Northeast Expos.
All 14 players who were slated to compete in Kelowna are back with the Marlins for this weekend.
That includes the main roster of Josh Sveistrup, Cash Leslie, Carson Reid, Beckett Boguski, Reid Nicol, Madden Cheung, Nash Lenton, Eli Cummings-Ursel, Emmitt Bell, Grayson Rome and Carter McCannel.
Affiliate player Sebastien Shakotko is also heading to Prince Albert, along with Oildome pitcher Tyler Drummond and St. James hitter Donovan Bullard.
“When we sent out the message to see if the guys wanted to go, we got 12 yeses in about 20 minutes,” said Reid, who is joined on the Marlins coaching staff by assistants Chris McCannel, Ryan Boguski and Rodi Sveistrup.
“Everyone was all in and then it was like ‘Alright, let’s do this.’”
While the team knew that there were advisories about the wildfire before they left for Kelowna, the Marlins could tell right away that their experience out west was going to be different than anything they had experienced.
“The smoke was so bad and you could smell it in the cabin of the plane,” Reid said. “It was rough from minute one.
“Once the tournament got cancelled, getting home was a bit of a challenge. All the flights were cancelled at the Kelowna airport because they needed to have rescue and water planes there to put out the fire.
“There were some families that had driven out there so they had left right away, but for everyone else, it was a bit of a scramble to figure out rental cars and flights. It wasn’t a ton of fun at all.”
Despite all those challenges, there wasn’t any hesitation from the players about taking part in the Westerns again once they were set to be held in Prince Albert.
“I had asked a couple of parents about if we should or shouldn’t go because we had all been through a lot, and they said we need to try and give the kids a bit of closure,” Reid said.
“We all want a crack at that tournament and we got that now. It’s one in a thousand shot and we got it, so let’s go out there and see what happens.”
The Marlins – who qualified for the Westerns by winning the Tier 2 provincials in Winnipeg on Aug. 6 – begin their tournament at 3:45 p.m. (local time) against the Expos.
On Saturday, they take on the host Royals at 10:45 a.m. and square off with the Cubs at 2:45 p.m.
All four teams will advance to the semifinals on Sunday morning. The championship game gets underway at 2:30 p.m.
» lpunkari@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @lpunkari