The St. Albert Tigers are tired of losing their stripes at provincials.
Last year the Tigers hit rock bottom as the senior AAA provincial hosts with one win and three losses after going winless in six games in 2009, the first time in almost eight years they failed to reach at least a semifinal.
“The last two provincials have sucked,” said Kurtus Millar, head coach of the Tigers Black and vice-president of developmental operations for the Tigers Baseball Association. “Definitely our goal for this year is to do a lot better.”
A lack of punch at the plate was the Tigers’ downfall in the 2010 tournament.
“The guys hit the ball hard all year and then we get to provincials and I think they were 11-for-121. If we don’t hit the ball there is not much we can do,” said Millar, the player coach for the 2007 provincial champion Tigers, their eighth Baseball Alberta title since 1988 and the first since 2004.
In the Sunburst Baseball League the Tigers finished fourth in the five-team standings at 5-6 and in the opening playoff round were swept by the Fort Saskatchewan Athletics by scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
“It was the worst season that the Tigers have had in a lot of years,” Millar said.
The only two tournaments the Tigers have won in two years was their annual St. Albert tourney.
“We used to go and win four out of five of those and lose in the final in the fifth,” Millar said.
This year the Tigers will field two teams in the Sunburst league: the senior AAA Tigers Black and the junior AAA Tigers Orange.
“We’re only entering one team into provincials so we’re going to make kind of an all-star team out of the two teams,” Millar said.
The Tigers Orange will replace the St. Albert Tabbies, who didn’t have enough players to form a team last year after going 2-4 at the 2009 senior AAA provincials.
“The Orange is a developmental team. It’s basically going to be our feeder system. We’re going to send them into the NCABL [North Central Alberta Baseball League] next year. We just didn’t have time to get everything done this year,” Millar said. “For the younger kids coming straight out of midget, the NCABL is not a bad league for them. There are a lot of AAA guys but it’s more of an AA league so it gives them a chance to adjust a little bit.
“We’ve also got kids from 19 to 21 [years old] that are going to enter junior westerns. Right now they’re the only junior team [in Alberta]. There is a rumour that Edmonton is going to have a junior team too. If they do there would have to be a playdown with them.”
So far 14 players have signed up to play ball for the Tigers Orange.
“We knew there were a lot of guys out there, it’s just getting the commitment and getting them to come out but Bob Cruthers [head coach] and Gerry Peterson [assistant coach] have sure done a good job in stacking that team up,” Millar said.
The Black and Orange teams will work together to create a tradition of excellence.
“We’re even going to be practicing together this year. We’re not going to have any of that animosity that was going on with the Tigers in the past,” Millar said.
“I’m pumped how it’s going to work out.”
As for the Tigers Black, they basically have the same cast of characters as last year with 18 players in the fold.
Pitching-wise, Millar said you can never have enough arms.
“I think we’ve got six on each squad so we’re healthy there but you would like to have eight guys to go into a tournament.”
Introductory team meetings were held this week for the Black and Orange squads. Practices are scheduled to start Sunday night at Legion Memorial Park.
League plays begins May 24, when the Tigers Black visit the Athletics at 7 p.m. The first game for the Tigers Orange is against the Tigers Black on May 27 at 8 p.m. at Legion park.
FOUL BALLS: The Tigers or Fort Saskatchewan are expected to host provincials in August.
The 28th annual Tigers tournament is set for June 17 to 19 at Legion park with two divisions of four teams each.
Also on tap for the Tigers are tournaments in Red Deer and Kamloops.
