Neepawa minor ball teams compete at baseball provincials

By Eoin Devereux Neepawa Banner & Press

A trio of local minor ball clubs were out and about last weekend proudly representing Neepawa in the Baseball Manitoba Provincial Championships.

The 11U AA team visited Altona, and were one of 16 clubs to make the tournament. Neepawa was placed in Pool C, which consisted of the host club from Altona, as well as teams from Fort Garry and Rock Lake.

In their first two games, on Friday, July 14, Neepawa first defeated Rock Lake, by the score of 4-3, but then were blanked by Altona, by the score of 9-0. In their final round-robin matchup versus Fort Garry, Neepawa was just overpowered by the city club, and lost 11-1. A team from MacDonald, ultimately won the weekend, beating St. James 6-5 in the championship final.

Just a little down the road in Winkler, Neepawa’s 13U AA club was also competing. Their competition in the round-robin portion of the weekend included teams from Morden, Rock Lake and Fort Garry. It was a tough opening day for Neepawa, as they were defeated by Rock Lake and Morden on Friday, July 14. They then closed out the road trip with a Saturday loss to Fort Garry. The tournament final would see the host club Winkler win it all, beating Fort Garry 9-3.

The third and final baseball provincial for Neepawa last weekend was in Niverville, and featured the 15U A club. Our team was paired up against Seine River, Lundar, Niverville and Winkler in the round-robin.

In their pair of games on Friday, July 14, Neepawa started off strong, with a 10-7 win over Niverville, and a 7-4 victory over

Lundar. The games on Saturday, however, were not as successful, as Neepawa lost to both Winkler (6-4) and Seine River (4-2). Their 2-2 record put them just outside of advancement into the provincial playoffs.