The regular season is a wrap and the Penticton SOMBA Tigers are gearing up for the B.C. Baseball provincial championship next month.
The AA 15U bantam squad dropped just a pair of games in their 33-game regular schedule to finish in second place in the 21-team league, just behind the Surrey/Newton Canadians who ended the year with a 32-2 record.
Penticton played one fewer game than the Canadians (a rain out that could not be rescheduled), because the Tigers lost by a higher margin to the Canadians, even with a victory in the rained out contest they would have finished one run shy.
Overall, including two tournaments, the club’s record was 41 wins and four losses.
Last season, the Tigers finished with a record of 16-15 in the regular season and 20-19 overall, but did not make it to the B.C. championship.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to try to qualify for provincials, quickly realizing that we would need to adjust that goal to winning, based on the strength of the team and the early success they were having,” said head coach Iain MacIntyre, who worked with assistants Rene Spence, Jamie Raymond and manager Nuno Monteiro throughout the off season as well to improve the players’ skill levels.
“We won a highly prestigious tournament in Tsawwassen on the May long weekend, it was at that point the coaches knew we had a very strong team with a hard working group of players.”
The provincial championship is Aug. 1-4. Penticton will play in the east division finals in Ladner and the winner will play the west division champs which is taking place in Burnaby.
The top teams from each side will meet in the provincial final Aug. 5 in Richmond City with the winner there going on to the Triple Crown Sports San Diego Summer Sizzle 15U Tournament Aug. 9-13 in southern California.
In preparation, the Tigers are practicing three times a week. Just days before the start of the provincial tournament the club is bringing in some top names for a special clinic.
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The Oliver-based Big League Experience baseball camp, lead by current Major League Baseball scout Marty Lehn of the Milwaukee Brewers and former Canadian Olympic coach will be joined by former MLB pitcher Albie Lopez, a World Series winner with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for the team to get exposed to high level coaching like this especially before provincials,” said MacIntyre. “The team has represented South Okanagan Minor Baseball Association and the City of Penticton incredibly well and look forward to journey towards trying to win provincials.
“The team’s success would not be possible without great support from the community, our sponsors, volunteers, SOMBA’s board of directors, the City of Penticton, B.C. Baseball and our parents and fans.”
The Tigers closed out their schedule last weekend in Kelowna where they finished in third place in a tournament there.
After going undefeated in the round robin, winning all four games to wind up first in their pool, they ran into a hot pitcher in their semifinal against Prince George — the eventual tournament champions — losing 13-3.
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The Tigers then defeated Ladner 12-7 to win the bronze medal. Ben Avila got the nod as game MVP for the Tigers, hitting three bombs, two off the fence and a towering home run.
In the semifinal, it was Dexter Madsen who was selected as the MVP for his work in the field and at bat.
Penticton opened the tournament with a 12-0 shutout of Vernon behind the pitching prowess of MVP Luke MacIntyre and the second match was a 20-2 win over North Shore with Marlo Spence named MVP with an out-of-the-park smash.
Kaiden Skode turned in an MVP showing in the 16-8 win over Chilliwack and the Tigers wrapped up the round robin with a 10-0 shutout of Ladner behind the hitting of MVP hitting of Khy Cutler.
