The North Shore Junior Twins capped off regular season play last weekend in the No. 2 spot in the league, putting them in good shape going into this weekend’s provincials.
The Twins are set to host the B.C. Junior Premier Baseball League Provincial Championships at North Vancouver’s Parkgate Park Aug. 7-9.
“We actually haven’t hosted this tournament before so this is an inaugural opportunity for the Twins to host a provincial championship,” says Dave Speers, general manager of the North Shore Junior Twins. He’s been with the team since the fall of 2013.
“Obviously we’re looking forward to being able to host the tournament and have the kids play in their home park,” he says.
The championship’s field of eight will include first-place league finishers the Langley Jr. Blaze, as well as the No. 3 Abbotsford Jr. Cardinals and No. 4 Whalley Jr. Chiefs.
The Twins had been in a fight for second place with the Whalley and Abbotsford teams and it was a tight battle in the standings; however, the Twins ultimately came out on top.
“You obviously want to be a top-four seed going into the provincial tournament,” says Speers.
This year’s season was a challenging one for his players.
“They’re 15 and 16-years-old and for a lot of them it’s the first time that they come to a program where they play a schedule of close to 90 games. A lot of times the kids are used to playing a schedule of somewhere around 50-60 games. When you add in those extra 30-plus games, plus travel down to Seattle regularly . . . as well as obviously a huge commitment to our practice schedule, which is no less than two to three times a week, it becomes a grind.
“(But) the kids have responded well to it, obviously based on league standings at this point, and (we’re) anticipating a positive weekend coming up,” he says.
The Junior Twins are typically among the top two to three teams in the league each year.
“We’ve actually gone on a little bit of a run here for the last three years,” says Speers.
The team won the provincial championships in 2013 and last year were the runners up.
Speers encourages community members to come check out the tournament this weekend.
“We’re encouraging as many people as possible to get out and watch. It’s really good baseball,” he says.
A festive, family-friendly atmosphere is promised, complete with raffles and food trucks.
The tournament will open Friday morning at 10 a.m. The Twins will play their first game against a No. 7-seeded team from White Rock Friday night at 5:45 p.m., following the opening ceremonies at 5:30 p.m. Games will continue through Saturday with both fields in use. The first games of the day will start at 10 a.m. with the last at 5:30 p.m. Semi-finals will get underway Sunday at 11:30 a.m. followed by the championship final at 2:30 p.m.
