Final preparations being made as the ‘Best in the West’ descend on P.A.

Each province will have one representative in either of the age groups, except for Saskatchewan who will have two with the provincial winner and the host in the Prince Albert Royals. Those participants include (in order of province from West to East):

13U – White Rock Tritons, Sylvan Lake Mariners, Humboldt Dodgers, Winnipeg South Wolves
15U – Carnarvon/Gordon Head Reds, Grande Prairie Reds, Western Dust Devils, Red River Valley Pioneers
18U – North Delta Rays, Chestermere Reds, Estevan Brewers, Elmwood Giants

“There’s going to be some really good, competitive baseball. These [are] the best AA teams in Western Canada and I’m excited to see where some of our P.A. teams stack up.”

First pitch in all three tournaments will be at 8 a.m. Friday, with the 13U’s and 15U’s playing at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex in Crescent Acres, while the 18U’s will be at Andy Zwack Field in Prime Minister’s Park.

Opening ceremonies will be at Rotary Field at 7:30 p.m., where all 15 competing teams will be introduced.

“We’re kind of expecting around 500 or so parents and grandparents and supporters of all the teams to show up, so a nice big location like [Rotary Field] is ideal.”

This weekend won’t be the first time the city has welcomed a Western tournament, as the 13U Royals hosted in 2023 at the Kinsmen Baseball Complex.

That championship was held on the heels of the original tournament in Kelowna, which was cancelled due to a wildfire near the city. Instead of scrapping the championship all together, both the Royals coaches and P.A. Minor Baseball agreed to host a makeshift Western Championship in the city after seeing the success of the provincial tournament they had hosted a month prior.

The tournament in Kelowna was set to host six teams, however, the rescheduled tournament in Prince Albert welcomed four as two of the original clubs declined to participate. As a result, the Royals welcomed the Consort Cubs (Alberta), Brandon Marlins (Manitoba), and North East Expos (Sask. 2, B.C’.s replacement) to the tournament, which saw the Royals beat the Cubs 4-1 in the finals to win Western gold.

Despite receiving medals, though, the win was not officially counted, according to the Western Canada Baseball Association (WCBA) website, as the “championships [were] suspended due to wildfires in Kelowna.”

Noble said despite the quick setup and prep for that tournament, it was a massive success and helped the organization win the bid to host the entirety of the AA championships in Prince Albert this year.

“We knew that after hosting it that once, that we would be able to do the full deal here this year. [2023] was a little bit more last minute, but still the concept of it, the hotels, the field work, the other little things that go into planning it, we had a good idea of what it would take. And the fact that we have three teams of our own attending [this year], that means we got three times the volunteer group to help organize and plan this one.”

He added that more volunteers are welcome to help out this weekend, and those interested can reach out to him at president@paminorbaseball.com or by reaching out to the Prince Albert Minor Baseball Facebook page.

All games with scores can be seen on GameChanger by clicking one of the following age groups:

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Final preparations being made as the ‘Best in the West’ descend on P.A.

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