Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
A Smoky River Region baseball team made history last weekend, embarking on its first Baseball Alberta Provincial Championships in Fox Creek.
This is the first year the Smoky River Stingers have assembled a team to compete at a provincial level, and they’ve successfully been able to secure a spot in this year’s provincial showdown.
“Last year we decided we wanted to put a team into provincials,” says head coach Norm Brulotte.
“We did go outside of the region to recruit some of the members of the team, because many of the regular season ball players didn’t want to play in the summertime.”
Brulotte explains that the region has a Smoky River Minor Baseball club that runs from May until the end of the school year. The provincial club started in July and competed every weekend at different events.
The team is comprised of six players from Smoky River Region, five from Peace River, and one from Manning.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make the Tier 1 group,” says Brulotte, explaining that the team will in fact be playing in that tier during playoffs.
“Now we feel that anything is possible. The kids really are hoping that they’re going to be able to win it all.”
The team has been practicing every Tuesday in Peace River and on Thursdays in Donnelly. It is manned by head coach Brulotte, assistant coach Deric Meunier, and team manager Pauline Therriault, all who have players competing on the team.
“We’re so proud of this dedicated team,” exclaims Therriault. “They really embraced the opportunity and worked hard these past three weeks, playing in this heat and traveling to Peace River or Donnelly for practices. They’ve been very committed, and we couldn’t have asked for a more passionate group of young athletes.”
In order to put together a team in the U15, they have to register with the league and then ensure their coaches have taken special courses to allow them to coach in the league.
Brulotte says they are proud of the dedication of the players and their competitive nature that led them to winning enough games to finish in Tier 1 showdown.
“Everyone is pumped and excited to be in Tier 1,” says Brulotte.
“We have a very competitive team and we’re hoping to finish in the top three.”
At the time of publication, the games had not yet been played. An update on the results of the provincial competition will be provided in next week’s South Peace News.