The Western Canada Junior AAA under-21 Championships will bring the best baseball talent from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Tom Laing Park.
The tournament will be held from August 12 to 14.
The westerns will feature one Alberta team, two Manitoba clubs and two squads from Saskatchewan, including the host Weyburn PAR Contracting junior AAA Athletics.
The teams will be playing for a coveted spot at the Baseball Canada under-21 National Championships in Regina from August 18-22. The Athletics are first-time hosts of the westerns this August, but this season will mark their third straight time playing in the tournament.
The host PAR Contracting Athletics have players from communities across the southeast, including Carlyle, Midale, Weyburn and Handsworth.
The opening ceremonies for the Western Canadian championships will be Friday, August 12 at 7 p.m., followed by the first game for the Athletics.
Bert Kauf, head coach of the Athletics, said that their theme will be celebrating the 1996 Western Canadian champions, the Weyburn Indians.
Many alumni from the Indians team will attend the opening ceremonies, as they will throw out a ceremonial pitch.
The Athletics had competed in the Western Canadians tournament last year, held in Innisfail, Alberta. They were unable to make the finals of the tournament, but are hoping for a better result this year.
Kauf said the junior program includes players from the same age group as the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) that the Weyburn Beavers play in and is used as a place for local players to keep honing their skills between midget and senior ball.
He said Weyburn junior baseball has been a staple for players from the southeast looking for a team to play on during the summer for many years.
