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Resilient Outlaws battle to provincial silver

Baseball: Okotoks 11U squad thrives with hometown support as tournament hosts

The first rule of this Fight Club is never quit.

The Okotoks Outlaws U11 Orange squad showcased tremendous resilience all weekend at Wylie Athletic Park earning the silver medal as hosts of the Baseball Alberta 11U ‘AA’ Tier V Provincial Championships on Sunday.

“This team is a very interesting group of boys, they play for each other, they play unselfishly and they play as a team,” said Outlaws head coach Kevin Tanaka. “They have the uncanny ability to never give up and keep fighting and because of that I’ve nicknamed them ‘The Fight Club.’

“And you saw it in their play, they went down, they came back roaring and just never quit.”

In the six team, three-day competition, Okotoks earned the top seed in Pool A by virtue of an 8-7 win over the Innisfail Hawks and 18-11 triumph over the Beaumont BoSox.

The Outlaws met the Southwest Edmonton White Sox in the crossover semifinal and mounted a big late inning surge to come away with an 11-7 victory.

Okotoks was down 5-1 entering the 4th inning and rallied for seven runs with Dallas Tanaka and Simon Tonner each contributing two RBI knocks in the inning.

The championship match had more twists and turns than a ride at Calaway Park.

Okotoks and the Parkland Twins exchanged leads throughout with the visitors pulling off a walk-off 16-15 victory Sunday evening.

Byron Thrift notched an inside-the-park grand slam in the contest as Okotoks got on the sticks throughout the barnburner championship match.

“The makeup of the boys, there was a little bit of nerves, but more so excited to be where they needed to be and with the opportunity that was presented,” the coach added. “I was very pleased with their performance as far as being humble in victory and also humble in defeat.”

The initial sting of disappointment for the boys was more about baseball season ending than the way in which it ended.

“This team has come such a long way in their development,” Tanaka said. “Being kids, they’re always willing to bounce back and be happy about it. For the most part, all of the team itself besides the loss was more disappointed that the season was over versus taking a championship loss.”

Keeping the experience about fun and development both as people and young athletes was paramount for the coaching staff all season, Tanaka added.  

At provincials, the boys played to a raucous crowd with terrific support all weekend on the diamond from family, friends and baseball enthusiasts.

“The community support was fantastic,” Tanaka said. “Some of the boys from the older Outlaws teams were there, some of the community and house league FMBA were there to take it in and cheer on the team.

“I know for a fact that both parents, players and coaching staff were very appreciative of the support.”

For more information on the Okotoks Outlaws go to okotoksoutlaws.com


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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