The Royals are set to host 18U provincials for the first time in the city's history this weekend. (Submitted Photo/Prince Albert Minor Baseball)

By Logan Lehmann

Provincial Weekend

Royals set to host 18U provincials for first time ever

Jul 27, 2023 | 2:00 PM

The Prince Albert 18U Royals team doesn’t need to travel far for this year’s provincial tournament as they are hosting the event for the first time ever.

Prince Albert was awarded the tournament on short notice meaning quick preparation was needed to get provincials ready to go, something that President of PA Minor Baseball Duane Krip found to be a fast-paced process.

“It was just a matter of weeks ago when we found out that in [18U] tier two, there was no host,” he explained. “The call went out for someone to step forward and our coaching staff along with a few of our volunteers said, ‘Hey let’s have this here in PA’. This is the first time that the 18U division has ever had provincials here in Prince Albert so it’s a pretty big thing to be able to host it in your own community.”

The Royals will be joined by five other teams competing for the title of provincial champions, including the Lumsden Cubs, Melfort Red Sox, Regina White Sox, Saskatoon Athletics, and Weyburn Beavers.

Prince Albert kicks off their provincial tournament at 10:30 am Friday against the Athletics. They then play later that day at 6:00 pm against Melfort before wrapping up round-robin play on Saturday against Lumsden at 1:00 pm.

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Head coach of the Royals Scott Gladstone said that he and his team are confident about their matchups heading into the weekend.

“I’m feeling pretty good about it,” he said. “We split our two games against the Saskatoon A’s this year and just last weekend we played the Lumsden Cubs and had two really good games with them so I think these are games we can win. The Melfort team we haven’t seen so they’re a little bit unknown to us but I think we have a pretty good chance.”

The semifinals are set for 10:30 am and 1:00 pm on Sunday while the gold medal game is slated for 4:00 that afternoon.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann