Leader staff
Slave Lake’s U15 Heat minor baseball team closed out the ‘tiering’ portion of its 2022 season with a trio of games in Lloydminster on June 18 and 19. They lost the first two and won the third one. The following is based on a report emailed by U15 coach Calvin Beauchamp.
The first game was against the host Lloydminster Twins. Beauchamp says it was a close game until the Twins struck for six runs in the fourth inning, winning the game 12 – 6.
Otherwise, Evander Pawliw had a solid outing as the starting pitcher for the Heat, with relief from Nico Diaz, Carson Maitland and Aiden Noskey.
“Lloyd was a strong opponent and top of our division but we held our own against them,” Beauchamp says. “We are the only team they have played this year that actually played the whole seven innings, since they have beat every other team they have played by at least 10 runs in five innings.”
The Heat next went up against the Whitecourt Royals. It went down to the wire, with the Royals winning 12 – 10. Beauchamp calls it a good character-builder for the team.
“Excellent pitching from Davone Halcrow and Grady Beauchamp held us in the game,” he says. “A lot of good at bats throughout the game, and we are seeing improvements at the plate from most of the boys.”
The Red Deer Braves were the next opponent, and this time everything was working in Slave Lake’s favour. They won in 14 – 4 in five innings, behind a strong pitching performance by Diaz.
“Finally, the boys got rewarded for their hard work and discipline,” Beauchamp says.
The team will be placed in a tier according to its results so far. As of last week, Beauchamp didn’t know what teams the Heat would be tiered with, just that a ‘championship round’ of games will be coming up. He’s feeling good about their chances.
“We feel we are starting to make improvements throughout the lineup. Over the course of the weekend we had two tough innings (that) cost us two games. Other than the two innings the boys were on point, and we will need that to have success moving forward.”
