Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

Slave Lake’s 15U Heat baseball team rounded out its Round 3 play on the weekend at home with a couple of wins and one loss.

The wins were over Camrose and Parkland; the loss was to the Southwest Edmonton White Sox.

Lucas Diaz was the starting pitcher in Saturday’s game against the Camrose Cougars. Evander Pawliw, Davone Halcrow and Colby Campbell came on in relief. Grayson Conrad led the way at the plate, going three for three. Slave Lake won the game 15 – 11.

Sunday morning, the Heat went up 7 – 1 on the White Sox, but couldn’t hang on.

“We couldn’t close it out,” says head coach Kevin Campbell.

Colby Campbell got the start on the mound for the Heat. Grady Beauchamp and Davone Halcrow batted well in the 9 – 7 loss.

Sunday afternoon’s game vs. the Parkland Twins Campbell describes as “a slugfest, for sure.” It featured four Heat home runs – two by catcher Ryker Halcrow and one each by Conrad and Lucas Diaz. The Heat won the game, 18 – 8 in five innings. Davone Halcrow pitched most of it for Slave Lake, with Nico Diaz finishing it off.

The Heat finished their third round of play with a 5 – 1 record, and are 12 – 6 overall. Campbell says that qualifies them for the Tier I provincials, at a place TBD on the August long weekend, “which is a great achievement for these boys, considering there are over 50 AA 15U teams across the province.”

11U provincials here
In other baseball news, Slave Lake’s 11U Heat will host the Tier III Provincials this weekend, starting Friday morning. The Heat kick things off with a 9 a.m. Friday game vs. the Parkland Twins. At 6 p.m. Friday, they take on the Red Deer Braves.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., the Heat tangle with the Fort McMurray Oil Giants, and then at Sunday noon they play the South Jasper Place Jays.