By Greg Higgins

North Battleford cruises to a championship at home

Jul 25, 2016 | 5:25 PM

The bats were swinging early and often, at least for one team in the provincial championship.

The North Battleford Beavers won the 2016 Midget AA Tier 1 Provincial Championship after beating the Humboldt Dodgers 12-0 at Beaver Lions Stadium in their hometown on Sunday, July 24.

Beavers coach Mike Hudec said he was really proud of his squad and thought they had more in the tank than other teams.

“I think in some cases when it comes to tournaments like this you have teams that run out of pitching,” Hudec said. “We’re fortunate that we are very deep in our pitching staff. We got to put out probably our best pitcher and I don’t think they got to start their top guy and we were able to get to him early.”

The Beavers certainly got things going early by scoring five runs in the first inning. They almost went through their entire rotation. The bats came alive again in the fourth scoring four runs. The team put the nail in the coffin with a three run sixth inning. The mercy rule was enforced ending the game after six.

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“I think everyone got onto the scoreboard today. They also played some great defense. The players really brought their A game today and they made it count,” Hudec said.

The defense had to work together to earn the shutout. The team was led by Jared Schmidt, who pitched all six innings. Humboldt had the bases loaded in the third but Schmidt was able to strikeout one batter and force two more to ground out, leaving the inning unscathed.

“This feels unreal. We’ve been waiting a while for this,” Schmidt said. “The defense was great behind me. Usually I just try to pound the zone and keep hitters off balance with all my different pitches. The rest of the guys really bailed me out couple of times.”

Schmidt stranded six Humboldt players over innings three to five. He wasn’t just hot on the mound. In the finals and semi-finals he was lighting it up with his bat and combined for five hits, seven RBI’s and crossed the plate himself once in the two games on Sunday.

Now it’s off to the Western Canada Championships for the Beavers. The tournament will be held in Sherwood Park, Alta. on the August 12 weekend.

“It’s a couple of weeks away so we are going to let the boys have a bit of a rest,” Hudec said. “We’ll be practicing hard, give them a few days rest then its right back at it.”

Greg Higgins is battlefordsNOW’s city municipal affairs and health reporter. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.