Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

Words probably can’t describe the feeling everyone had Saturday night after witnessing the Western Canadian Baseball League’s All-Star Game festivities in Okotoks. A crowd of 6,000+ people, the players and coaches enjoying every minute of it, some incredible moments of baseball, fireworks at the end, and a million memories made, and it feels like we’re just scratching the surface. Make sure to head to albertadugoutstories.com for the game story and photo gallery that we posted earlier this week. We have plenty more stories to come in the days ahead. Here on the podcast, instead of one guest telling us the story of the day, we have a series of shorter interviews done before and after the game, to help capture the day’s events. Listen in to hear from Matt Wolff of the Brooks Bombers, Braden DeSonia of the Medicine Hat Mavericks, McCoy Pearce and Micah McDowell of the Okotoks Dawgs, Weyburn Beavers slugger Nolan Machibroda, and Sylvan Lake Gulls infielder and All-Star Game MVP Ethan Ho.

There’s no doubting Brent Radlinsky’s dedication to the New York Yankees. All you need to do is see the wall behind him when he’s hosting his podcast or chatting with you on Zoom. It’s all jerseys and memorabilia. There’s also no doubting his love of the game of baseball. Whether it’s talking about the game on his Fourteen Twenty Sports Bar podcast, the occasional writing he does for Belly Up Sports, or at the field as an umpire at a variety of levels in Southern Alberta, Radlinsky is a baseball lifer. The Fort Macleod product joined us recently and we shared a few laughs about his baseball journey, some of his favourite moments, and the worst call he ever made.

Many athletes dream of the day they are able to represent their country on the world stage. St. Albert's Max Hartman was able to do that recently when he was named to Baseball Canada's Junior National Team that was heading to Florida for the 18U Friendship Series against the United States. The Washington State University commit joins us this week to talk about his baseball journey, which includes Dawgs Academy, Tournament-12 in Toronto and this past summer with Okotoks Dawgs Black.

Fresh off their trip to Quebec for the Baseball Canada Women's National Team showcase, Helaina Appleyard and Hayley Lalor join us on this week's episode of the podcast. They were among four Albertans named to the roster (Madison Willan and Ellie Jespersen were the others), taking part in everything from fitness and baseball drills to practices and intrasquad games. Appleyard has been on Baseball Canada's roster for a while, turning many heads during the 2019 national tournament in Okotoks, while Lalor was also a key piece to Alberta's success in that event. And as we hear in this episode, both have strong family ties to the game.

For the first time since 2015, the Lethbridge Bulls have captured the Western Canadian Baseball League title. It was quite the ride for the Bulls, who finished the regular season on a six-game losing streak, including the final four to the Sylvan Lake Gulls, who they met in the semi-finals. They would go on to sweep the Gulls and the Edmonton Prospects. We recap the run and are joined by WCBL Playoff MVP Bryce Oriold-Fraser and catcher Noah Or in our latest episode of the podcast. Big thanks to @YQLSports for the team photo we're using as our cover art for this episode.