Just how would either of the teams do if they faced not just any AAA team from the Regina league, but the literal best of the bunch?
The Canucks had a chance to test that theory on Sunday afternoon when they hosted the AAA-league leading Regina White Sox in an exhibition game at Andrie Diamond. And lo and behold, they got one heck of an answer.
The local squad gave the White Sox all they could handle, eventually dropping a 19-15 decision after coming back from a nine-run deficit.
“We had no idea when we set it up how good they were and how good we were in comparison, that type of thing,” said Canucks coach Shane Sowden. “But we knew they’re the top AAA team in Regina and we’re the top AA team. So it was kind of a neat chance to see how we stack up.
“If anything, it confirmed what (Prairie Dogs coach) Craig (Flanagan) and I thought once the season had started, that we wished we would have put together a AAA team this year because if we’d combined the two teams we would have been right in the mix in the AAA league.”
Beyond simply testing themselves against top-flight competition, the Canucks were looking to see how their charges performed against elite pitching and offence, especially with the league playoffs on the horizon the following weekend.
“Both teams hit the ball really well, and that was our main reason for doing it,” Sowden said. “Every team has a couple of guys who can throw really well, but we just wanted to get the kids at least four at bats each where they’re facing fast pitching.”
It also didn’t hurt to have their own hurlers put to the test and face a bit of a challenge in the process.
“We have a couple of guys who throw pretty hard and they haven’t been hit much this year,’ Sowden said. “So they got challenged, they had some shots hit off them that hadn’t happened yet. They had to face some adversity and the defence had to make some plays.There were some errors but we also made some nice ones, so it was just a great test all-around.”
In the end, Sowden hopes the loss will pay dividends when it comes to the tough games in the near future.
“We needed to know what it’s like to be beaten,” he said of his squad, which had one loss in the regular season heading into a game against White Butte on Tuesday. “Kids this age get so caught up with ‘wow, no one can beat us’ when it’s ‘no, they can’, since we’d had some really close games the last few weeks. So it was really good to remind them.
“We’re really excited about this age group, and it’s a really good sign when you can compete with the best team in Regina,” Sowden added. “Hopefully a lot of these kids keep playing through the winter. It’s really promising and in this age group we have some good young players coming up.”
Extra innings… With the Canucks and Prairie Dogs finishing one-two on top the league standings, Moose Jaw will host the league playoffs this weekend. Times have yet to be finalized, but games will take place Friday and Saturday, with the gold medal game on Sunday afternoon.
