By Mitch Bach

Bright future ahead for Medicine Hat Mavericks on and off the field

Aug 14, 2017 | 3:59 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — It’s understandably difficult for Greg Morrison to look back on last season and not grit his teeth at the result.

For the second straight year, his Medicine Hat Mavericks, a team which Morrison has owned for nearly a decade, kissed the playoffs goodbye after a second-round loss to the Edmonton Prospects.

But although the finished product wasn’t what he, the players and coaches, and fans hoped for, Morrison is already looking forward to what 2018 has in store.

22 players from the 2017 roster are eligible to return. Only infielders Blake Rowlett and Chris Caffrey along with pitcher Tanner Helms have surpassed the WMBL’s limit and will not be able to compete next year.

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“We’ve never had that many options, so I’m excited for next year,” said Morrison on the potential to wrangle up returning players.

He says a huge part of fielding a successful ball club is the ability to recruit players with WMBL experience.

“When we went to the championship three years in a row, we were having like seven or nine guys who were always returning back,” Morrison added. “Having (Rowlett) back as a champion player with us was great, imagine if we had six of those guys.”

Rowlett and assistant coach Kyle Swannack were two returners who helped Medicine Hat to it’s most recent championship in 2014.

More returned after making their Mavericks debut in 2016. Ace Jared Libke built on a strong campaign last summer by striking out the third most batters of any pitcher in the first two rounds of the 2017 playoffs.

Pitcher Talon Kunkel played a big roll in helping the Mavs recover from a slow start until an injury forced him to leave the team midway through the season. 

One year older, Zack Kunkel, Talon’s cousin and Hatter by blood, showed immense maturity at the plate, and stocked up the outfield with a tenacious ability to pick off runners at first.

With the ability to recruit up to 22 returners next season, Morrison believes the future looks bright for the Mavericks.

“There literally isn’t one player sticking out in my mind where I’m like ‘I don’t want that guy back’,” added Morrison, who will be celebrating his 10th season owning the WMBL team next year. “If we could have 15-20 of these guys back, it would probably be a league record to be honest with you, just because of the nature of this league. When we had nine come back that one year, I think that was just domination. 

“Hopefully we can get these guys to get back to the Hat next summer.”

Morrison says Edmonton and Swift Current both do a good job of recruiting past players, and that’s a key reason why they’re the two remaining squads battling it out in the WMBL Championship Series.

Another reason for Morrison to tip his cap at 2017 was the attendance at Athletic Park, which he says was an all-time high through the post-season. 

“Generally speaking, within 10-20 people we can usually say there is between 700 and 800 people in the first round. This year we had 1000-plus in the first round,” he smiled. “There is a really good response. Some of that I think is we didn’t fall on the August-long weekend in the first round like we usually do, but we’re seeing a lot more families coming out.”

Morrison continued to say roughly 400 spectators are die-hard season ticket holders, which he knows by seat and by name. 

“But we’re seeing a lot more folks that are coming out with their kids. People are coming that one-two times, then a year or two down the road they’re season ticket holders.”

Morrison was quick to say there are a lot of summer clubs and programs for sponsors to support, which could hinder their decision to partner with the Mavericks.

But the sponsors decision to help out his local ball club makes it that much more enjoyable.

“For me it’s very flattering that people want to support us and believe in what we do,” added Morrison. “We do our best to support other things in the community, and I think that a lot of other businesses notice that. I think we’re up to almost 20 player appearances during the regular season. They’re the real ambassadors of our team. It’s the little things like that that I think helps the people really support us.”