Before the playoffs began this week, the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League named its regular-season most valuable players for each of its eight senior teams.
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In the Border City, those MVP selections are Ellis King of the Lloydminster Twins and Kaden Davidson of the Oil City Ducks.
King’s family has been deeply rooted in the history of the Twins organization. Along with playing senior baseball this year, he’s part of the coaching staff with the 15U AA Lloydminster Prairie Pirates.
Davidson, a member of Oil City’s pitching staff, is a multi-sport athlete who plays junior B hockey with the Vermilion Tigers. Last summer, he was named the top pitcher in the NSRBL.
The other team MVPs this season are Andrew Hicks of the Glaslyn Orioles, Grant Baldwin of the Lashburn Cardinals, Kye Thom of the Mervin Flyers, Hudson Ford of the North Battleford Beavers, Cooper Olson of the Standard Hill Lakers and Kayden Cey of the Unity Cardinals.
Thom and Ford, both rookies in the senior league, played together with the 18U AA North Battleford Beavers for two seasons, including last year when they won silver in Saskatchewan’s Tier 2 provincials.
This summer, Edam’s Thom is one of the coaches with his younger brother’s team, the 15U AA SaskWest Sasquatch. Ford, a catcher from North Battleford, played U.S. college baseball the past school year as a freshman at Valley City State University in North Dakota.
In the first round of the North Saskatchewan River league playoffs, pennant-winning North Battleford faces eighth-seeded Glaslyn, No. 2 Unity meets seventh-ranked Oil City, third-place Lloydminster goes against No. 6 Lashburn, and fourth-ranked Standard Hill takes on No. 5 Mervin.
The winners of those best-of-three quarter-finals advance to the semifinals.
In opening-night playoff action Tuesday, North Battleford topped Glaslyn 11-3 and Standard Hill blanked Mervin 10-0. The Unity-Oil City series was slated to open Wednesday night, while the Lloydminster- Lashburn series begins Thursday night.
In the final regular-season standings, North Battleford (12-2) finished one game ahead of Unity (11-3).
Lloydminster and Standard Hill each sported 9-5 records, followed by Mervin at 6-8, Lashburn and Oil City each at 4-10, and Glaslyn with a 1-13 slate.
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