The boys who surprised even themselves last summer in their first year as a team, will continue strong into their second season having just heard news they'll be hosting the Western Canada Baseball Championships this summer.
The Innisfail Junior AAA baseball team is heading into its second season and already has a provincial win and a silver from the Western Canada Baseball Championship under its belt.
"We were really surprised how competitive we ended up being," said manager Desmond Bouteiller. "We were the top team going into the finals from the round robin," he said of the championships in Winnipeg last August.
They were the first Innisfail team to even win a provincial AAA baseball championship, as well as the first squad from the Parkland Baseball League to capture the title.
The boys, about 18 of them under the age of 21, came together as a bit of a ërag tag' team to get Junior AAA baseball going again in Alberta.
Heading into the new season, the boys are taking on a different name from the Innisfail Indians senior ball team and reaching back into the past.
The team, now the Merchants, are taking on an old name used in Innisfail back in the 1970s and 1980s.
"We've gone away from the Indians to differentiate ourselves. It used to be the name for the old senior team. It's a homage to some of the guys who played on the team back then and still support us now. It's also to show respect to all the businesses who have helped us," he said of the costs the team incurred to travel to the championships last summer and the cost they have ahead of hosting the championship this year.
Bouteiller said the group was surprised and pleased to be chosen to host the championships ó it's something he said that's typically reserved for the bigger cities such as Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina.
"Alberta hasn't competed on a junior level for years and I think because we did so well last year, the association is excited to see it in a small town again."
The team will be working with the Town of Olds as well to play a few games there. Bouteiller expects about six of the roughly 16 games will be hosted in Olds.
"We need somewhere that has lights for night games as well as additional space to run games if it rains."
He said to prepare for the championship the group will be getting the diamonds "up to snuff" as well as figuring out all the other details that go with hosting the games such as hiring umpires and getting bathrooms set up in the area.
"It's a pretty big undertaking. We've hosted the senior tournament before so we have some experience but this is going to be pretty big," he said of hosting six teams from Western Canada between Aug. 9 and 13.
For more information on the Merchants, visit their website at www.merchantsbaseball.ca.
