AA provincials fill complex

If you want to experience some well-organized mayhem this weekend, you are cordially invited to Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex.

Local organizers are simultaneously staging the under-11 AA and U13 AA provincial championships from today until Sunday, which will bring 28 girls’ teams to the complex that is the beating heart of the sport in western Manitoba.

Softball Brandon president Marc Lyver is the tournament supervisor and expects it to be a busy weekend.

“I just left the complex and was talking to the staff, and I said ‘I bet you on Saturday once everybody is done work and everybody is here from the city, it will be crazier than what the nationals were three years ago,’” Lyver said on Thursday afternoon of the 2023 U15 event.

The U11 draw has 15 teams, including the Westman Storm (from south of Brandon) and Westman Power of Brandon in Pool A, the Westman Fury (from north of Brandon) in Pool B and the Westman Heat of Brandon in Pool C.

Play begins at 9 a.m. on Friday. The top two teams in each pool plus the next two highest finishers advance to an eight-team playoff on Sunday.

The final is set for 3 p.m.

The U13 draw features 13 teams, including four from the region, the Westman Storm and Westman Fury in Pool A, Westman Heat of Brandon in Pool B and Westman Power of Brandon in Pool C.

Games begin this morning at 9:15 a.m., with the round-robin ending on Saturday evening. Play begins at 9 a.m. on Friday, with a similar playoff setup. The gold medal game is also at 3 p.m.

All games are scheduled for six full innings or 90 minutes, whichever comes first.

Westman Power coach Brittney Hellyer heads up one of the two Brandon U11 teams.

“Our girls are a really positive group of girls and always seem to be having fun and into the game and pumping each other up,” Hellyer said. “That’s really important with what softball is like. You can beat yourself down when you make errors. We’re definitely still working on lots of fundamental skills but I would say they’ve done lots of learning through games and practices.

“They do want to be better so they do listen and take feedback and put that into their game.”

At the U11 level, batters get a soft toss instead of a walk — it can only go for a double — and there is no stealing home.

Everything else is the same.

One thing that’s new this summer is U11 teams actually formed a league to get some games. In years past, the AA teams didn’t really come together until after house league play ended and booked exhibition matchups.

“We played some league games, which was new for the U11 program,” Hellyer said. “We got to play teams in our region and got to travel to Winnipeg as well for some teams there.”

They also played in the annual provincial showcase, which allowed Hellyer to get a sense of where her players fit into the positional puzzle.

All the Brandon players attended tryouts, but essentially everyone made either the Power or the Heat because they wanted two U11 and U13 teams in the city.

“It was for girls who wanted to play a little bit more competitively,” Hellyer said.

The Power haven’t played every team at provincials but have met three times with their inter-city rival, the Heat, winning once.

The Power finished 10th at the showcase in June in Steinbach and Landmark, and were about .500 in their league games.

“I think the girls are pretty excited,” Hellyer said. “It’s always fun to have a whole bunch of fans come out and cheer them on.”

Last weekend, the facility played host to the seven-team U17 AAA provincials, which seems almost quaint now.

The Wheat City Classic tournament in June had 31 teams but that included games outside the complex.

Lyver estimates the tournament will need 50 volunteers. While the AAA events generally draw from Westman Magic parents and family, this event will feature Softball Brandon parents.

There is some rain in the forecast, but it looks like it will be scorching hot, with highs in the thirties all three days.

“You have 90-minute games but you’ll have to allow these kids, especially when they’re young — they don’t always take the best care of themselves on their own — to take water breaks and make sure they’re hydrated and making sure the coaches are keeping their players hydrated,” Lyver said. “I think that’s the biggest factor. We talked about it during our coaches meetings couple nights ago that we held on Zoom.

“The umpires are going to allow for water breaks for pitchers and catchers but we have to keep the games going as best we can. You can’t have four or five an inning.”

It’s the last major event of the summer for the complex, which will host the U17 AAA girls’ national championship in 2027.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

OTHER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Here is a look at Softball Manitoba’s provincial champions softball championships this summer, and when and where they were contested. The top three finishers are included below. TBD means to be determined.

• U11 A

— June 26-28, Winnipeg.

1. Winkler Nitro. 2. Winkler Wild. 3. Altona Angels.

• U11AA

— July 24-26, Brandon.

TBD

• U13 A

— July 3-5, Winnipeg.

1. Brandon, Sunrise Credit Union. 2. Reston. 3. MacGregor.

• U13 AA

— July 24-26, Brandon.

TBD

• U13 AAA

— July 23-26, Crystal City.

TBD

• U15 A

— July 10-12, Winkler.

1. Steinbach. 2. Winkler. 3. Virden.

• U15 AA

— Aug. 7-9, Portage.

TBD

• U15 AAA

— July 9-12, Headingley.

1. Eastman. 2. Interlake. 3. Westman.

• U17 A

— July 10-12, Steinbach.

1. Hamiota. 2. Springfield. 3. Virden.

• U17 AA

— Aug. 7-9, Portage.

TBD

• U17 AAA

— July 16-19, Brandon.

1. Eastman. 2. Central. 3. Westman.

• U19 A

— July 24-26, Winnipeg.

TBD

• U19 AAA

— July 16-19, Winnipeg.

1. Eastman. 2. Central. 3. Smitty’s.