Saskatoon Report
September 2, 2009
Saskatoon, SK
You may not know it by the weather, but summer is almost over and unfortunately with the end of summer comes the end of the softball season. Saskatoon Amateur Softball Association play is officially complete and the final national championship will take place over the long weekend in St Thomas, Ontario. With no playoffs in the Special Men’s or the Bob Stayner Ladies Division One, the winners were determined by the league standings. The Special Men’s winner was the Saskatoon PolyPlus Sr. A Diamondbacks, with Saskatoon DBJ Leasing winning the Bob Stayner, Ladies Division One crown. The SASA playoffs took place through a span of over three weeks in four different divisions. The Hanley Merchants, winners of only 7 out of 18 league games, were the surprise of the men’s playoffs. In the first round they upset a tough Tint Centre Cubs team, who had twice as many victories in league play as the Merchants. They then met the Warman Gems in the final round, who previously had beat out Travelodge Padres in two thrilling extra inning games. Led by the arm of fireballer Rob Goring, they completed the upset shutting out the Gems in third game of the best of three by a score of 5-0. There were no real surprises in the Men’s Division Two Playoffs as the top two teams from league play, Muskeg Lake and ANAF advanced to the final round, where the first place Muskeg Lake A’s swept ANAF in two straight. Ladies playoff action saw Saskatoon Money Mart Mystics sweep the first place Sports On Tap Riot to win the Vic Loewen Division and Saskatoon Jr. Erical Eclipse sweep the Midwest Agro Haze to claim the Lisa Down Division title.
While the league playoffs were being played, our local Senior A teams were busy in major competitions. DBJ Leasing represented Saskatchewan at the Senior Women’s Canadian Championship in Kitchener, August 12 -16 where they placed fifth. They had a solid preliminary round placing first with a 4-2 record. However their bats ran out of steam in the playoffs as they failed to score a run in two straight playoff losses. SASA’s Sr. PolyPlus Diamondbacks joined Saskatoon Aspen Interiors at the International Softball Congress World Tournament in Quad Cities Illinois, August 14-21. Although the Diamondbacks finished 15th with only 2 wins in 5 games, they showed they could compete with some of the best teams in the world. Aspen Interiors featured a diverse and very expensive mixture of talent, with only 3 local players and four players from out of the country. Aspen finished in third place, losing to the eventual champions Kitchener Riversharks in the semi-final. One can only hope that they were not just one player short of winning it all. Dean Holoien who played with them last year, but was considered expendable this year was sorely missed. Holoien pitched 6 scoreless inning in the final for Kitchener and was named tournament MVP. Two other local players showed themselves to be amongst the best players in the world as they were named to the Second All World Team. Brennan Pokoyoway had the tournament’s fourth highest batting average at .529 to earn the spot at shortstop and Jim Climenhaga hit .308 to earn the second team catcher award.
Some people just can’t get enough softball. After a hectic season coaching the Saskatoon Jr. Outlaws, Coach Earle Woodside is now busy putting the finishing touches on his U. of S Ladies team in the hopes of repeating as national champions. U. of S. softball action will get underway this fall with home tournaments to be played at BVI. Devon McCullough has also had a very hectic summer and is still going strong. His experiences this summer are a great example of the remarkable opportunities available to young men in the sport of softball. After leading Team Saskatchewan to a silver medal in the Under 19 International Men’s Softball tournament, he had a couple of weeks to regroup before he led the Selects to the Canadian Midget Championship in Prince Albert. After a couple days rest he hopped on the bus for the ISC World Tournament to play with the Diamondbacks. Just a few days after his return from Quad Cities he was on a plane to Australia to play winter ball down under.
