Tigers narrowly miss medal

Every tournament the Avonlea-Moose Jaw Bantam AAA Tigers entered this year, they worked their way into the semifinal game.
That streak continued into nationals, where the Tigers lost 8-5 to eventual silver-medal winners Ontario in the semifinal and then lost 6-3 to host LanaudiÉre in the bronze medal final.
As disappointed as they were in the medal games results, there was still a lot to be said for making the semifinal of a national championship.
"I'm extremely proud of these kids," said Tigers coach Greg Reidy. "When we went to select this team, we had 24 kids try out, and that was it, and we finished fourth in the nation," Reidy said, adding Ontario's North York entry had 1,400 kids try out for their team.
"Of the four losses we had here, we lost to the gold medal winning team, the silver and the bronze medal team. These guys have nothing to hang their heads about at all . . . It just goes to show you the talent level of this team and the talent level in Moose Jaw. We're fostering some good ballplayers here."
The Tigers were always going to be in tough against an unbeaten Ontario in the semi-final.
"We had a 3-1 lead and had a couple of errors cost us five runs in one of the innings," said Reidy. "We managed to battle back and just didn't have enough to get through."
Then in the bronze medal game, Reidy said the Tigers just ran out of gas. They had played eight games in four days.
"(LanaudiÉre) got a couple of hits early on (pitcher) Jimmy (Dombowsky) and it just was too much to come back from," Reidy said. "In the bottom of the seventh, we had the tying run at the plate, and we just couldn't manage to get him across."
Saturday, the Tigers lost 4-1 to New Brunswick and ended up third in their pool. For that lost, they got Manitoba in the quarterfinals, and the Tigers took that game 9-1 Saturday evening.
The team broke camp in April and started out the year 0-2.
"We consistently all year had good pitching, good hitting and good defence," said Reidy. "From my perspective, it's been an absolute pleasure to have coached these guys. They're an incredible team and incredible ballplayers."
As the players move on to midget and beyond, their experience at nationals is something they can take with them.
"You can really see them coming together as a team and facing adversity (Sunday)," Reidy said. "They never quit at all, they were all standing in the seventh inning of each game thinking we've still got a chance. They weren't going to let it die."

Corey Atkinson can be reached at 691-1260