The 33rd annual Tigers Baseball Association tournament starts Friday night with a ceremony honouring Brian and Jesse Lakevold.
The driveway to the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association facility will be named Lakevold Lane in memory of the father and son who contributed to SAMBA’s success on and off the field.
Brian was 64 years old when he was reported missing after his boat was found abandoned in the middle of Lake Okanagan in late August of 2014.
“Brian is one of the many reasons why SAMBA has the lights on the midget field. He also sponsored every team Jesse played on by purchasing new uniforms, booking buses for better team travel and even taking players to out of town games without Jesse when their parents couldn’t take them He was also a major reason for the USABA team (for the United States Amateur Baseball Association’s bantam 14/15 World Series in St. Albert in 1996 and 1997),” said SAMBA president Kurtus Millar.
“The Lakevold family was such a great baseball family and would literally do whatever they could to help everyone involved when they could.”
Jesse, a highly-regarded pitcher during his minor baseball career with the St. Albert Cardinals and the Tigers, passed away June 23, 2015 at the age of 33.
“Jesse played his baseball career through SAMBA and those years were spent with guys like (Brad) Wolansky, (Craig) Tomas, (Dan) Curtis and (John) McHugh,” said Millar of the current Tigers players.
The tournament features eight teams, including all five Sunburst Baseball League clubs: Tigers (3-5), Confederation Park Cubs (1-7), Parkland White Sox (1-7), Red Deer Riggers (8-0) and Sherwood Park Athletics (8-2), the 2015 senior AAA provincial champions.
The draw consists of 13 games on the Landrex and Active Physioworks diamonds. A beer tent will also be on site.
In the Waples division, the Tigers are up to bat Friday against the Calgary Longhorns at 8 p.m. and Saturday against Parkland at 2 p.m. and Red Deer at 8 p.m.
Confederation Park, Sherwood Park, Edmonton Blue Willow Angels and Cold Lake Cardinals are competing in the Young division.
The tournament opener is 7 p.m. Friday between Confederation Park and Sherwood Park.
The top teams in both divisions qualify for Sunday’s final at 2 p.m.
Last weekend the Tigers were in Saskatoon for a tournament and qualified for the semifinals before the rain washed out the event.
In pool play, the Tigers beat the Saskatoon Dodgers 5-3 and lost 7-6 to the Saskatoon Stallions.
Meanwhile, the Tigers hosted Red Deer in Sunburst action Tuesday but the score was unavailable at press time.
Tonight at 7 p.m. the Tigers are in Spruce Grove for a game against Parkland at Henry Singer Field.
Tigers Baseball Association
33rd annual tournament<br />Legion Memorial Park<br />Landrex and Active Physioworks fields<br />Waples division<br />St. Albert Tigers<br />Red Deer Riggers<br />Parkland White Sox<br />Calgary Longhorns<br />Young division<br />Edmonton Blue Willow Angels<br />Sherwood Park Athletics<br />Cold Lake Cardinals<br />Confederation Park Cubs<br />Friday/June 24<br />7 p.m. Cubs vs. Athletics<br />8 p.m. Tigers vs. Calgary<br />Saturday/June 25<br />10 a.m. Angels vs. Cubs<br />11 a.m. Riggers vs. Calgary<br />1 p.m. Athletics vs. Cold Lake<br />2 p.m. Tigers vs. Parkland<br />4 p.m. Cold Lake vs. Cubs<br />5 p.m. Parkland vs. Calgary<br />7 p.m. Athletics vs. Angels<br />8 p.m. Tigers vs. Riggers<br />Sunday/June 25<br />10 a.m. Cold Lake vs. Angels<br />11 a.m. Parkland vs. Riggers<br />2 p.m. final <br />1st Waples vs. 1st Young
