Lethbridge Little League Intermediate AAAs win provincial title, now travel to B.C. for nationals

By Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2023.

NATALIE HEWLETT PHOTO The Lethbridge/Southern Alberta Intermediate AAA 13U Little League baseball team won the provincial championship over the weekend on home field.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge/Southern Alberta Intermediate AAA 13U Little League baseball team were crowned provincial  Intermediate champions after sweeping the Medicine Hat Mavs 13U on home field over the weekend.

Lethbridge had to play Medicine Hat in a best-of-three series and won the opening game 7-4, followed by the provincial banner- clinching win of 15-1 in the second game.

With the championship win, the 13U Lethbridge Little League team will be the Alberta representative at the Intermediate League Little League Canada Championship  in Richmond, B.C. beginning this weekend with a chance at an Intermediate Little League World Series berth in California if they win the tournament.

“I think it was pretty electric,” said team manager Scott Kornelson.

“It was a best-of-three playoff against Medicine Hat. So, there wasn’t as many teams as you’d hope to play to kind of win to go to provincials. But at the same time, it was still pretty exciting to get that win. Canadians is a big deal for anyone in Little League baseball. You know, just to be able to represent your province and go and have a chance (to go to) a Little League World Series and be Team Canada is a big deal.”

Kornelson spoke about the team’s strength of hitting through the games.

“I think the biggest thing, you know, this team from top to bottom have people that can hit,” he said.

“So, like, you, know, whether they’re big or small (and) because we do have some smaller players on the team … every kid can hit. You never know which ones are going to be the ones doing it. But they all can hit the ball really well. This team was kind of built with a lot of kids who can play multiple positions, you know a lot of speed, a lot of versatility and that can all kind of hit the ball. They (the players) put that on display. Defensively, they’re quite a very good defensively sound team. If you want to use the word small ball (an offensive category for scoring), they’re really good at small ball.”

Kornelson says they were pretty confident, when asked about the team’s play heading into the provincial championship.

“I think they played Medicine Hat in an earlier tournament in Cranbrook and did quite well. They won that game 16-2. So, they felt like there was going to be a really good opportunity to have that chance to go to Canadians. So, they were pretty positive about it for sure.”

Kornelson thinks this a team that’s going to compete well at the Canadian Championship.

“We hope for that, right, of course,” he said.

“But you never know what can happen. They’re 13-year-old kids right. But at the same time, I don’t think we’re over yet. I think there’s going to be a really strong showing there and I hope they do really well there. But throughout the season there’s been some really good ups in some games where we got to learn a little bit more.”

Preparation is the same as usual for the team.

“I think every time they go into a tournament, they learn some new things and they figure out, you know, what things they can work on, and put those type of things in their practices and they just get better all-around and continue to keep growing,” he said.

“The other thing they do really well, you know, I think every practice they’re constantly working on how they can be a better defensive sound team and also working on how they can be better at hitting the ball and those types of things, right.”

Kornelson said they all want to win.

“They’re all super competitive and they feed off of each other right and they bring each other up,” he said.

“And I think, you know, when you’re facing people, you haven’t played before, I think, you know, you’re going to have some ups and downs. The way that they bring each other up and stick together is what’s going to help them get through those tougher moments. And I think, you know, that’s how they’re going to continue to keep playing through these other teams.”

The Intermediate League Little League Canadian Championship goes July 16-25 at Richmond’s Palmer Baseball Complex.

Results and schedule can be found at http://www.svll.ca/tournaments/2023intermediatenationals/.

Lethbridge will open against Team Atlantic at 2 p.m. on Sunday.