by KELLY FRIESEN
Journal editor
The Humboldt peewee Dodgers drove out of Saskatoon on July 5 with Queen's We are the Champions cranked. The local baseball team won the Bridge City's prestigious 'AAA' peewee tournament.
Even though it was the second year in a row the Dodgers won the tourney, they didn't exactly know how they would fair with a turnover of players from last season. But since they added some talent to their roster by picking up some top ball players from the surrounding area, they went into it with confidence.
"We were at odds with how we would do," said Morris Tarnowski, the head coach of the Dodgers. "We went into the tournament with mainly Humboldt players, but we picked up some other players, too. We had one kid from Quill Lake. We called this team our provincial team. So with that, we knew we had a good team that should compete well, but we didn't really know how it would play out. We wanted to make sure to win some games early on and be able to make it fairly far in the tournament."
With games against big city teams like Edmonton in the rearview mirror, the tourney showed Tarnowski that his club can compete with the best of the best in peewee baseball.
"We reassure our kids that we are just as good as anybody and can compete with any team," he said. "We have some very talented players and like any team some average players, too. When we played Edmonton we thought that they would be something else, but then we played them and we realized they had some really good players and some average players just like every other team."
Tourney recap
The Dodgers started the tournament on a bright note as they defeated the Regina White Sox 5-4 on Friday afternoon.
"It was a big win for us," said Tarnowski. "It gave us confidence and it was good to get the first one over with."
Following dropping their second contest 7-3 to the Saskatoon Cardinals, Humboldt knocked off the Saskatoon A's 15-5 and the Edmonton-based South Jasper Place 7-3 to round out their round robin action.
With the Dodger's 3-1 record putting them in the 'A' final, they squared off against the Unity Cardinals in the championship game. Humboldt went on to take the close match 10-7 because of a solid "team effort."
"We got the pitching, the hits and the breaks," said Tarnowski. "It was a good team effort and I was pleased with the effort they all put forth."
The year is far from over for the Dodgers. They're taking part in several tournaments throughout July.
"After we played in Melville (July 11-12) for a very popular tournament, we'll go on to Weyburn the next weekend for provincials," said Tarnowski. "So we're still keeping busy and have some important baseball games ahead of us."
