Leader staff

Slave Lake’s 11U Heat baseball team hosted the Tier 3 provincial championship tournament this past weekend. Starting on Friday, July 21 and ending on Sunday, July 23, the tournament featured teams from Red Deer, Parkland, Fort McMurray and South Jasper Place.

The Heat won two and lost two, and did not make it into the final. That game was won 8 – 5 by Red Deer, over the Parkland Twins.

The two games Slave Lake lost were to those two finalists and they were both close games. Parkland nipped the Heat 9 – 8 on Friday morning. On Friday evening Red Deer beat the Heat 17 – 14.

Things turned around on Saturday for the host team, as they beat Fort McMurray by a score of 14 – 13.

The final game of the round robin for Slave Lake was Sunday at noon, against the South Jasper Place Jays. The Heat led early, but the Jays fought back to take the lead, only to lose it again when Slave Lake scored five runs in the third inning. The final score was 15 – 12 for the Heat.

Head coach Trevor Vance says the team played well, and was in every game.

As for the tournament generally, Vance says the hosts got “tons of compliments.” The diamonds were in great shape, he says, and the visiting teams seemed happy with just about everything, including camping at Big Fish Bay.

“Nothing but positives,” he says. “All around a huge success.”