TISDALE — Despite the event being called short due to the rain, the U12, U14 and U16 Tisdale softball teams put on a show during the annual 2019 Riverdog Run.
The tournament ran from June 22 to 24, with 19 teams signed up.
“Unfortunately we got rained out,” said Lori Kidney, vice president of Tisdale Minor Ball Association and the coach of U14 Riverdogs. Most teams got three games, some only got two games, but everyone gave us very good compliments. Our umping was really good, our grounds crew was working their butts off to get the diamonds in shape after the rain. We had a good concession, everything worked really well.”
The U14 Riverdogs finished 2-2, losing to Estevan twice, but beating Watrous and Kerrobert.
“Estevan is a tough team, they got really strong pitching,” Kidney said. “We were just having a little trouble getting our bats. Estevan is a team we will be facing in provincials, so we were pretty happy to play them twice.”
She said she is glad Estevan and Watrous was there, because there is a good chance the U14 team could face them once again at provincials.
“We managed to beat Watrous, which was encouraging, but Estevan is definitely a contender for a provincial title, so we’re going to have to practice harder the next couple of weeks to get in front of them.”
The main thing the team will be focusing on improving during this period is their batting.
“Their pitchers can really fire.”
The U12 Northeast Magic only got two games in over the weekend due to the rain, but won both. They played Muenster, beating them 15-3 and beating Watrous at 10-7.
With Watrous, the U12s were losing for a “good part of the game” but made a comeback and won.
“They have strong pitching for their age and are really coming together on their bats,” Kidney said.
She believes their challenge is finding teams their caliber to face, so they can continue to improve.
“They seem to go to tournaments and go through the round robin absolutely destroying teams,” Kidney said. “They are a strong little U12 team; they are definitely contenders for a provincial title.”
She said the team had really wanted to play Prince Albert due to the challenge it would give them, but due to the weather the two teams never had the chance.
The U16 Riverdogs faced three games over the weekend.
Two of the games were against Prince Albert, which the Riverdogs overcame.
“They were way up on them quite early so they didn’t get a big challenge there.”
Their other game was against the Kindersley, which had the Riverdogs beat them 9-6.
“It was a very good battle.”
The U16 Riverdogs and the U14 Riverdogs will be both playing July 5 to 7 at provincials. The following weekend the U12 Northeast Magic will also be competing.
“All three teams are having a good year, strong players. The Riverdogs program, the Tisdale program is doing really well,” Kidney said. “It came a long way in the last five years. About five years ago, prior to that, I don’t think we even had a team enter provincials for six to eight years. So five years ago we got to working on our ball program and it has really come alive now. It’s really starting to pay off.”
