WOW

Hi Dbacks Family,

Graham, Carter, Josh, Maria, Erika (Carter's girlfirend) and Robyn (Graham's girlfriend) are playing a game of scrub in the back yard at the acreage as I write this… beautiful day for provincial baseball, beautiful night for scrub… always a good day to play baseball, haha.

1 - WOW, simply WOW!… A talented and determined team of coaches and young men battle to a 14-16 regular season SPBL record (the adversity and challenge served them well this weekend), then go 5-1 at SPBL AAA provincials, losing only 1 game, by only 1 run, to a deep Muenster Red Sox club that had dominated the SPBL with a regular season record of 27-3. Although the disappointment of a gold medal loss still hurts, players will soon reflect on a great TEAM run that yielded a silver medal and many thrilling moments… well done gentlemen!

2 - WOW… great job Greg, Cam, and  Cal on both the Selects and the Provincial tournament committees! The three of you played a huge roll in the success of these events. It was great to see all three Saskatoon AAA clubs work together to host baseball events that are the envy of all other communities in the province! (plus we should receive some financial reward from the profits!)

3 – WOW… "cap tip" to our Dbacks family of parent volunteers : post-rain diamond prep, concession, gate, 50/50, scoring, PointStreak, pitchcount, recycling/clean-up, BBQ, kitchen clean-up, and general "help-wherever-we-can"… You guys rock! You provided a first class provincial experience for all the teams this weekend.

4 – Onward to Westerns! Sherwood Park, AB, Aug 12-14… the team has received a Westerns package including hotel/accommodation and tourney info… and $500 from Baseball Sask as runner-ups at provincials… Joelle Krysak (the 2016 Dbacks Assistant Manager) will be coordinating the team accommodations and tournament events/activities (The Dahl crew won't be there). Stay tuned for details and upcoming emails from Joelle!

5 – At this time, we are aware of 3 players that will be be unavailable for Westerns: Jordan Malainey (Northern State, Aberdeen, SD) and Alex Grenier (Newman University, Wichita, KS) are headed south for college in August. Carter Dahl starts UofS Huskie Football main camp on Aug 10… [If there are any other players who will be unable to attend for similar reasons, please let Matt know ASAP, as the coaches will be selecting players to pick-up for Westerns (along with the Giants, and Muenster for Nats)]

5 – Several Dbacks have exciting baseball/athletic opportunities coming up in August:

 -Nolan Machibroda and Ryan Olchoway are headed to the 2016 Baseball Canada Cup, Aug 3-8… wear the Sask colors with pride!

 -Jordan, Alex and Carter… see above… as well as Jayden McKim, who is off to Prairie Baseball Academy, Lethbridge, AB

                … Congrats, and all the best gentlemen! Remember you are a Dback for life!

6 - Stay tuned for team wind-up plans… we will try our best to find a time that suits the most players/families… with Canada Cup, Westerns, family holidays, and several players leaving for college commitments, we have some options to consider. 

On a personal note, the Dahl crew would like to thank the coaches, players and parents for providing Carter and our family with a wonderful ride these past three years. It has been a privilege for Carter to play with his teammates, and learn from the best group of coaches the SPBL has to offer. Although he will now be catching a football more than a baseball, his Dbacks experience has made him a better athlete and a better young man. There is definitely a special "family" feel to the Dbacks squad that isn't found on many sports teams. Couldn't have asked for a better baseball family to hang with!

Go Dbacks!

Mitch