15-year-old Wildcats, Sultans teams win provincial gold

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This article was published 11/08/2025 (227 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 15-and-under age group playing ball in the southeast is shaping up to be a special one, as the Carillon Sultans 15U AAA baseball team and Eastman Wildcats U15 AAA teams both won their respective provincial championships this week.

The Wildcats had their championship rained out after a downpour July 26 and had to play the final in hostile territory in Winkler against the Central Energy.

The team is an impressive 50-2 this season heading into nationals, which will also be hosted in Winkler. Those kick off Aug. 13.

Eastman were on track to pick up their third loss of the season, trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of the final, but a eight-run explosion in the bottom half was more than enough to claim the gold. Avi Tindall was named the provincials most valuable player.

Russ Kihn coaches the Wildcats U15 team. With the Energy playing the remainder of their semi-final game right before the final began, he felt the team was at an early disadvantage. The Wildcats had only given up four runs across their seven games before the final, but quickly fell behind early.

“Even though we were able to score a few runs, we weren’t quite as sharp defensively,” Kihn said.

“Fortunately, the girls stayed strong and didn’t give up.”

Other Wildcats teams in action over the weekend included the program’s U17 team, which finished in the top eight at the national championships, hosted in Warman.

In baseball action, the 13U and 15U provincial championships were hosted over the weekend, with the Carillon Sultans fielding teams in the top tier of both tournaments.

The 15U team came out on top, defeating the Winnipeg South Wolves in a 15-3 mercy rule victory to clinch the championship.

“I believed this team had a chance to win it all when we had our first practice,” head coach Clint Brandt said.

“This year’s provincials were very competitive though. Most of the games were very close and any of the six teams could have won.”

Offense came fast and furious for the group, as they posted 18 hits in the victory, a new season high. Kyler Verestiuk had a complete game performance for the Sultans on the mound. Carillon won their first three games of provincials, and got a chance to set up nicely for the finals.

“I was confident and believed our group would come through,” Brandt said.

“The boys played some of their best baseball of the season this weekend.”

The 15U team will play at the Western Canadian championships in Saskatoon after a pair of tune-up games against Team Manitoba this week.