Leader staff

Slave Lake hosted two minor baseball tournaments on the weekend. On one side of Hwy. 88, the 15U Heat hosted teams from Lloydminster, Rocky Mountain House and Innisfail. On the other side of the highway, the 18U Heat hosted Whitecourt Royals and Parkland Twins at Charity Park. They lost once to both teams, then beat Whitecourt 6 – 2 on Sunday morning. A second game vs. Whitecourt got rained out.

For the 15U games we have a full report, thanks to coach Kevin Campbell. As for the 18U, they went 1 – 2.

Over at the Sinclair Fields, the 15U Heat were on a roll and couldn’t be stopped. They won all three of their games.

“The boys are playing some really good baseball right now,” says Campbell.

Game #1 saw the Heat take on the Lloydminster Twins, winning 18 – 8. Campbell says the home squad got off to a shaky start, giving up seven runs in the first inning. But they rallied with five of their own in the first and got stingy on defence after that.

Davone Halcrow had a lot to do with the team’s success. He came in to pitch in the second inning and “closed the door on the Twins,” Campbell says. At the plate, Evander Pawliw and Owen Griffith did quite a bit of damage for the Heat.

Game #2 was an 11 – 1 victory over the Rocky Sun Devils.

“The story in this game was pitching,” Campbell says.

Colby Campbell had a perfect game going into the fifth inning, shutting down the first 13 batters. The Sun Devils didn’t get a base hit until the fifth. Davone Halcrow went deep again for another home run and Nico Diaz went 2/3 at the plate.

The final game of the weekend for the Heat was an 8 – 2 win over the Innisfail Hawks.

Pitching, hitting and defence were all working well in the game, says Campbell. On the mound, Grayson Conrad went the distance for the win. Halcrow hit two four-baggers and defensively, Nico Diaz “made two amazing catches in centre field.”

“Fun team to coach,” Campbell says.

The 15U Heat appear to be off now for the rest of June, but will be playing again in July. As for the 18U Heat, they play in Fort Saskatchewan this weekend.

Slave Lake’s 13U Heat played three games (or were scheduled to) in Edmonton on the weekend. Like the 18Us, only their first game’s result was posted online as of Monday morning. It was a 9 – 6 loss to the Edmonton Angels.

The 13Us host Black Gold, Grande Prairie and Barrhead for a round of games this weekend.