Strathmore Reds to defend provincial title

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Reds U13 AA baseball team will be hosting the Tier II provincials in Langdon, due to ongoing field maintenance in Strathmore.

After winning the Tier III championships last year, the Reds are aiming to become provincial champions once again following the August tournament.

“I think everybody is excited to have the provincials hosted near home. The main benefit is they do not have to travel so their friends and families can come and support the team locally,” said Coach Troy Lapohn. “We have a number of kids from Strathmore, we have a number of kids in Rocky View, and then we also have a lot of folks from Langdon, so it is a perfect venue to be able to host it.”

Lapohn said the Reds have had an excellent season with a young team, comprised largely of first-year players, and a handful of returning athletes.

The Reds currently boast a season record of 18-8-2 through the year so far, which Lapohn explained has been a dramatic improvement, particularly over the last month. 

“We have really hit our stride going into provincials. It is the little things on and off the field that bring the team together. We have had a couple of barbeques and the players came together to do some fundraising,” said Lapohn. “They did some fundraising and raised some money for equipment and jerseys and they used that as an opportunity to team build and bring themselves together.”

Lapohn described his team as a pretty humble group, and a few of them, having become provincial champions last year already have an understanding about how the tournament goes.

For most of the U13 AA team, they are either new to Baseball Alberta, or are new to baseball entirely, and are excited to have the experience of competing at the provincial level.

“The structure of Baseball Alberta is May and June are Rounds 1 and 2, and that really sets teams apart. Going into July, Round 3, the tiers of all of the teams are based around skill and competitiveness,” said Lapohn. “We have already been tiered in Tier 2, and from that tier, what happens is two of the teams … go into Tier 1 into the final provincial weekend and one team comes in from Tier 3 into Tier 2.”

The provincial tournament will take place as a five-team round robin taking place on the Friday and Saturday, with the finals playing off for the championship on the Sunday. 

The provincial tournament is scheduled to take place from Aug. 4-6 at the Langdon Diamonds.