Pictured L-R: Skyler Dimmick (#23) of the North Battleford Beavers, Gavin Nolin (#11) of the Battlefords Trappers. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Beavers Playoff Bound

NSRBL wildcard series bring excitement, heartbreak to local ball clubs

Jul 16, 2021 | 1:54 PM

It was a tale of differing fates for the two Battlefords-based baseball clubs on Thursday night, in the North Sask. River Baseball League (NSRBL) wildcard series‘.

The North Battleford Beavers punched their ticket to the playoffs with a thrilling 7-6 upset of the higher-seeded Unity Junior Cardinals, while the Battlefords Trappers saw their season come to an end in a 12-1 defeat to the Meadow Lake Sox.

North Battleford Beavers

Entering the wildcard round as the tenth and lowest seed, the Beavers victory over the seventh-seeded Junior Cardinals will now earn them a spot in the playoff quarterfinals.

Player-coach with the Beavers, Kyle Gregoire said the team is looking forward to the next challenge ahead, as they advance to face the top-seeded Wilkie Brewers.

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“We’ve played Wilkie a lot of times in this league, so it’ll be great to have that rivalry right when we start off, and hopefully we can take our [momentum] from the game last night into the next round,” Gregoire said. “We have some good competition from those boys in Wilkie so it should be fun.”

With standout performances across the lineup, from veterans such as Bryce Gatzke who contributed two runs batted in (RBI) and two runs of his own, Darvin Scheidl who also chipped in two RBI, and Gregoire who went 2-4 with a run, the team appears to be firing on all cylinders at just the right time.

Battlefords Trappers

On the other side of town, while the Trappers’ season may have wrapped with the 12-1 defeat, player coach, Gavin Nolin said it wasn’t for a lack of chances. He also added that there are still positives for the team to build on heading into next year, as they remain largely a fairly young group.

“Baseball’s a funny game; things just really didn’t go our way last night, as I don’t think we had an inning without runners on [base] and yet we only scored one run,” Nolin said. “It’s a tough one to swallow, but we are young and hopefully we have enough guys to keep the team going and have everyone back next year.”

The Beavers and Brewers will kick off their quarterfinals matchup early next week. Game 1 will be played in Wilkie Monday (July 19), while Game 2 will return to Beaver Lions Stadium in North Battleford, Tuesday (July 20). A best-of-three series, Game 3 will return to Wilkie if needed, Wednesday (July 21).

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1