Vauxhall mosquito Jets have been trying to spruce up its hitting heading into Tier I community baseball provincials this weekend in Spruce Grove.
The team competed against a Lethbridge Little League All-Star team and the top-ranked mosquito competitive level team recently in preparation for provincials.
“We’ve been working on our hitting and our defence. We wanted to face some better pitching,” said Willie Huddlestun, head coach of the Vauxhall mosquito Jets.
Common with community-level provincials, it is a bit of a wildcard how the Jets will fare as the number-two seed going into provincials. The field includes top-ranked South Jasper Place, Vauxhall, Sundre, host Spruce Grove and Goodfish Lake.
The only team the Jets have played is Sundre, a squad the Jets blasted with the 10-run rule in the first week of its round-offs.
“At community, you have three divisions for south, central and north, so you only see what’s in your division,” said Huddlestun.
Vauxhall (114) has scored more runs than South Jasper Place (100) in their respective undefeated 6-0 records, but South Jasper Place has proven to be downright miserly in runs against, as the team has given up a mere 18 runs over its six games as the favourite.
As always with the provincial format, where numerous games are condensed in one weekend, it will be pitching that decides the outcome, as pitch counts are in place.
“These teams have either been playing three games or two games on weekends, so they don’t have to hold any pitching back,” said Huddlestun. “Pretty much all of our kids have had a chance to get some work in. I don’t see any reason why we can’t have a good showing. We should be a strong team going in.”