Elks to host Mary Oikawa Memorial Tournament at Spitz
By Lethbridge Herald on June 9, 2022.
By Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald
The 2022 version of the Lethbridge American Legion Baseball Elks AA are growing a sense of excitement to be hosting the annual Mary Oikawa Memorial Tournament this weekend at Spitz Stadium.
The tournament began in 2010 and pays tribute to Oikawa, who was a tireless Legion Baseball volunteer, that passed away in 2009 at the age of 73.
The Elks Shaye McTavish is an infielder/ pitcher for the club and will be getting his first taste of the tournament.
“I think we’re excited,” said McTavish.
“Most of us haven’t gotten to play in this tournament with the Elks since we’ve went through the pandemic and things like that. So, it’s going to be a big tournament for us and we’re hoping to play our best and take the win at the end of the day.”
Coach Scott Oikawa is Mary’s son and the realization that the tournament is a big deal for him and the team has set in with the players.
“I think he just kind of told us play like we do and don’t overthink it— just play like the Elks do and then things will go our way,” he said.
McTavish thinks the teams that they’ll be playing are pretty good teams.
“There’s a couple of Alberta Baseball teams that are higher up there. So, I think it’ll be good competition for us going into conference play in the States,” he said.
Other than facing Medicine Hat and the Calgary Blues, the other teams will be new opponents to the Elks.
“It’ll be exciting to see some new players, new arms — so we can get used to different types of teams,” McTavish.
Outfielder Lucas Puskar was asked about balancing the pressure in the home tournament.
“Yeah, I mean, we got a close team; we’re all good friends,” he said.
“So I think together, we’ll keep the nerves down and I think we’ll have a good time. We always have fun playing.”
Jackson Filipenko says the tournament has been a good build up for the team.
“I think the boys are fired up,” he said.
“You know,the last few years, as we can all tell with not just us, but everybody, we’ve been on shut down for a lot of things — whether that’s baseball, work whatever it is. So to have the home tournament again, it’ll be real exciting. I think everybody is pumped up and ready to go.”
When coach Oikawa is in the dugout at this tournament, pleasant memories always pop up for him.
“This program means so much to me and my family and the name associated with it — yeah, definitely some positive baseball memories,” said Scott.
While Scott agreed that there is that added pressure to win the tournament,however they are working towards their conference play.
“So we’ll be experimenting with some different line-ups, giving ball players opportunities to show what they can do heading into the conference schedule,” he said.
The Elks will open against the Red Deer Braves at 7:30 p.m. tonight, followed by a noon game against the Moose Jaw Canucks and wrap their round-robin play up against the Saskatoon Diamondbacks at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The championship game will be at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Oikawa was one of the founders of the LALBA program in Lethbridge, as well as the Big League Baseball program, which preceded Lethbridge’s participation in the Montana State American Baseball League.
Mary Oikawa began scorekeeping for both the Elks and Miners tournaments in 1982 and all of their league games.
The score keeping took her to the Montana State ALB Championship from 1988 onward, as well as with the Lethbridge Diamondbacks of the Pioneer League and Lethbridge Bulls and the 1981 Summer Games in the city to name a few accolades.
She also volunteered in various other sports leagues in the city.
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