By Jeff D'Andrea

Astros’ Western Canada win makes coach proud

Aug 11, 2011 | 6:04 PM

Back in 2009, the Prince Albert North Central Orioles lost in the Pee Wee Western Canadian Softball Finals in heartbreaking fashion to the Irma Tigers, despite being overwhelming favourites.

According to coach Kalen Kovitch, that loss did not go down easy. His team, now called the Prince Albert Lake Boyz Astros, not only wanted to win the Western Canadians this year, but to exact revenge against the Tigers.

Both wishes were granted on the August long weekend in Saskatoon as the Astros met the Tigers in the finals and won handily 10-3.

“It was very special for the kids, you could see the looks of relief and all the hard work paying off on their faces,” said Astros coach Kalen Kovitch. “It was a special moment for them and a special moment for me as a coach.

“All these kids and myself included have been working over the past two years to get back to the Western Canadians and get back to the final and prove to everybody we should have won it before.”

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Not only did the Astros meet and beat the Tigers in the finals, they beat them all three times they met in the tournament by also including 11-3 and 6-5 wins. In 2009, the Tigers beat the Prince Albert three times as well to take the top prize.

“As much as I’d like to think they just went out wanted to win ball games, they wanted to win those games a little bit more because they owed Irma three losses,” said Kovitch.

The Astros started off the tournament after Friday’s pair of games with a 1-1 record, beating the Peguis Braves 9-0 but losing to the Saskatoon Phantoms 5-3. The Astros didn’t lose after that, winning their next six games to claim the title with an 11-1 win over the Richmond Mariners, 13-7 over fellow Prince Albert team the Gold Astros, and a 1-0 shutout victory over the Calahoo Chiefs.

As much as Kovitch preaches the team concept and said everybody contributed to the gold medal, Mathew Pilon’s contributions can’t be ignored.

Pilon lead in just about every offensive category with an unreal .577 batting average, 15 hits and 16 runs scored. He was also tied for the lead in home runs with two in just 26 at bats.

“Whenever the team seemed to not be doing well, he put them on (his) shoulders,” said Kovitch. “Whether it was defensively in centre field, or third base or wherever he was playing along with his hitting. His hitting has been so consistent, he very rarely gets out, if he does get out, it’s usually a really good defensive play.”

Kovitch said the entire pitching staff was on top of their game as well. Wyatt Hinson, Zach Pierce and Nick Patrick all ranked in the top five on the tournament for ERA, all posting under 2.00 earned runs per contest. Hinson’s was especially low with 0.78 in two starts.

Pilon, Hinson and Patrick, along with Josh Elliott and Justin Boyer, represented Saskatchewan at the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, B.C. Aug. 5-9, finishing in fourth place.

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