They expected to play close to home when the 11U Tier 3 provincials were to hit the diamonds in Grandview this past weekend.
But the flooding last week resulted in the provincial tournament being moved to Portage and the 11U Dauphin Fusion Credit Union team made the best of it, coming home with a silver medal.
Dauphin opened the nine-team tournament with a 6-2 win over Grosse Isle, Friday, and followed that up with a 15-3 win over Tri-Community.
On Saturday, Dauphin dropped a 10-5 decision to Portage, but rebounded to beat Cartwright/Baldur, 14-4.
This placed Fusion in second place and into the semifinals, where a 4-3 victory over Neepawa put them in the final, where they faced Portage once again.
The host team clinched the provincial gold medal with a 12-2 triumph, going undefeated at 5-0.
Fusion coach Mike Winters noted two of their games ended early due to the mercy rule, where a game ends if a team is ahead by 10 runs after five innings.
“So we were able to save pitchers for the next game because of it,” he said.
Teams had to battle hot weather throughout the tournament.
Winters noted the temperature for Sunday’s semifinal was 34C with the humidex, while the final was about 38C.
Winters was impressed with how the players came together as a team throughout the tournament.
“Teamwork and sportsmanship was unbelievable. My coaches, who coached along side me were unbelievable. All around it was amazing. I’m very proud of my team,” he said, adding Barret Procyshyn was a co-coach.
Knowing Portage had a strong team, Fusion treated the semifinal against Neepawa as its championship game.
“We wanted to guarantee we got the silver medal. The gold medal would have been great for Dauphin and the Parkland, but we knew two games on Sunday was hard to win,” Winters said.
“Portage, they finished first in their round-robin, so they got a bye to the finals. They didn’t have to play in the morning, which was to their benefit. It’s just the way it is.”
Winters credited Portage for hosting the tournament at the last minute, noting they had just a couple of days to prepare for it.
“It’s unfortunate Grandview couldn’t do it. They did so much work, so much energy and time into it and they reached out to our team for us to bring everything out there for Portage,” he said.
“The parents were amazing in Grandview and volunteers. We had a lot of people here in Dauphin, too, who were amazing and helped our team out, donated stuff to us.”
Fusion Credit Union sponsored the team, while Canadian Tire donated some swag for the Grandview event and for the players, as well.
Fusion called up three players and a coach from Roblin and one player from Ste. Rose to join the team for provincials. Winters wishes to thank them for their efforts.
“They helped us a lot. It was great,” Winters said, adding it feels great to be a provincial silver medalist.
“I don’t even remember the last time Dauphin has had it. It’s been a while. And I’m very proud of them. It feels amazing. Beyond words.”