TISDALE — Some of the best U16 softball teams in the province will compete in Tisdale this weekend.
“These are the top teams in this division in the province, so likely one of these teams is going to be your provincial champion,” said Sharolyn Simoneau, one of the coaches of the U16 Tisdale Riverdogs.
The Riverdogs have three players from Porcupine Plain, one from Hudson Bay, one from Arborfield, one from Nipawin and one from Melfort. The rest are from Tisdale.
All games will be held at the Fairgrounds ball diamonds. On the first day of the tournament, June 22, Tisdale will face off against South East, while Melfort will face off against Humboldt. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.
The next day, both Tisdale and Melfort will play at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
On June 24, Tisdale and Melfort will play at 9 a.m. before the finals begin at noon.
“It’s nice to have our community have the opportunity to see the girls play because otherwise they don’t get that opportunity,” Simoneau said.
The tournament is also an opportunity to play ball where there’s usually a lull.
“Our provincial are July 6 to 8 in Saskatoon and so we were trying to look for a tournament to fill in that time before provincials,” Simoneau said. We thought, ‘well, let’s throw it out there and see what we got,’ so we were more than happy to get five other teams that are top ball teams willing to come and play here.”
The Riverdogs have attending three tournaments: one in Regina where they won two and lost two, one in Macklin where they were defeated in two close games against Macklin, and one in Melfort where they faced off against U16 A teams.
“There’s going to be some really good games. All of the teams here are strong, so we’re going to have to play our best ball to see ourselves in the A final,” Simoneau said. “Obviously, your goal is to make the A final but if the girls are playing their best ball, we’ll be happy because there’s some really tough competition here.”
Sharolyn Simoneau coaches the team along with Renée Simoneau, Luc Simoneau and Ashlyn Cooley.
