Little League Provincials
The Trail All Stars came up short in their quest for a playoff spot in the B.C. Little League Major Championship Friday in Victoria.
The All Stars needed Lynn Valley to beat Layritz Friday morning and themselves to triumph over Langley in the afternoon to have a chance of making the playoffs. Lynn Valley almost obliged Trail. They took Layritz into extra innings of a 0-0 game before bowing out 2-1 in 12 innings.
With the writing on the wall, the dejected squad of All Stars dropped a 20-4 game against the eventual provincial champions Langley.
The Langley side finished the tournament with a 7 and 1 record, beating Hastings in the final match, 6-2.
AM Ford Trail Orioles
The AM Ford Trail Orioles came up against very tough competition at the B.C. Senior Men’s Provincial Baseball tournament in Kelowna on the weekend.
As manager/player Jim Maniago predicted before the B.C.’s, the O’s had the potential to go 3 and 0 or 0 and 3, unfortunately it was the latter.
The O’s dropped their first game Saturday morning against the Victoria Merchants 4-0 before losing their afternoon game to the Kamloops Sun Devils 6-0.
“We just couldn’t generate any offense, get that clutch hit. We had bases loaded in the first and second game but couldn’t score then give up two runs in the bottom half,” said Orioles coach Terry Jones.
In their third game against defending national champs Burnaby Bulldogs, despite scoring seven runs, the O’s simply ran out of arms, giving up 11 runs in the fifth and losing 23-7.
“It’s a learning experience and we’ll get better for the future for sure,” said Jones. “The team is looking forward to the Western’s and the GFI and I’m sure they’ll bounce back.”
Butler Park
The votes are in, but their is no joy in Butler as Trail’s beloved park failed to make it to the semifinal round in Canada’s Favourite Park competition.
“It is too bad, but I think that just being included and having our park mentioned nationally is something to be proud of,” said organizer Eddie Ferraro.
Trois Rivieres’ Stade Fernand-Bédard won the third round of voting.