Lakers to play for national Little League championship in Ottawa

By Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2023.

Michelle FilipEnKO PHOTO The Lethbridge Lakers celebrate after winning the Alberta Senior Division Little League title on Sunday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Lakers American Legion B/Senior Elite Little League team are Ottawa bound as the Alberta representative in the Senior Little League Canadian Championship after capturing the Alberta Senior Division Little League title at Lloyd Nolan Yard over the weekend.

The Lakers, who are comprised of 15 and 16 year olds, beat Calgary’s Bow Ridge 10-0 in Sunday’s final to finish off a perfect 3-0 record on route to winning the banner.

Lethbridge began the weekend with a 15-0 win over Bow Ridge on Friday, a 12-1 win over the Edmonton Trappers on Saturday before winning the final.

“You know, kind of anti-climactic, a 10-0 win,” said Lakers coach Sam Hilgersom.

“But, you know, we knew that we were the favourite going in and our boys took care of business. So, it was a really good weekend overall.”

Hilgersom thought the team swung the bat really well.

“We swung it really well, (and) one through nine (in the line-up), everybody was chipping in,” he said.

Lakers pitchers only gave up a run in three games.

“So, our guys were throwing strikes, getting ahead in counts and just working hard,” said Hilgersom.

“And when our defence had to make a big play, they made it.”

Between staying loose, remembering what they were working on all summer and having fun was the coaching staff’s focus for the players heading into the weekend.

“You know it’s not every day that you’re going to be able to play for a provincial championship and a chance to go to a national championship,” said Hilgersom.

“So, we just wanted the kids to really enjoy it and just play with everything they had.”

The Lakers do not know what to expect heading to Ottawa.

“You know, we don’t really know what to expect with the other teams,” said Hilgersom.

“We’ve got to face Quebec (in) our first game on Monday, and they were the Canadian representative at the Senior League World Series last year. So, we’re really excited to go at them and we’re just going to try to stick to our game. You know we’ve got a couple guys on the bump that are really solid for us, and as I mentioned before, one through nine, everyone in our line up can hit. So as long as we stay strong defensively, I don’t think we should have any problem hitting.”

Hilgersom said kind of just go in there and play your game, on what is message is for the team.

“Whatever happens, happens honestly,” he said.

“I mean for us as coaches, (and) it’s kind of I’m sure every other team is feeling the same way, we haven’t seen any of these other teams, we have no idea what their arms look like, they’re line ups or anything. So, it’s kind of just going to be a feel-by-feel basis. You know, you’ve got one pitcher that is throwing really well against one specific team, you know, we might let him go and just kind of changing up our strategy a little bit, depending on the opponent and their tendencies.”

The Senior League Canadian Championships goes from July 17-24 in Ottawa and the schedule and results can be found at http://www.srlcanadians.ca.