OTTAWA- Championship season is about to kick in to high gear as three National Championship tournaments will commence this week. On August 19th the National Peewee Western event will begin in Brandon, Manitoba as well as the Midget Championship taking place in London, Ontario and the Junior Championship in Trois-Riviéres, Québec.
In Brandon the tournament will feature a 10- team field including the host team from Brandon. Representing BC will be teams from Ridge Meadows and Abbottsford, Spruce Grove and Edmonton will represent Alberta. Three teams from Saskatchewan will compete in Brandon, and they are: The Saskatoon Braves, Regina and the Saskatoon Blue Jays. In addition to the host Brandon club two other teams from Manitoba will take part in the tournament being Winnipeg South and the Mid-West club.
According to tournament organizer Shelly Old the event promises to be something that baseball fans of all ages can enjoy.
“We have a lot planned at the ballpark,” said Old. “We will have a welcome barbeque for all players, coaches and fans, a homerun derby with 1 participant from each team and we will be doing a 50/50 ‘progressive’ draw. It really seems to draw a ton of excitement, especially on the 2nd and 3rd days when the ‘thermometer’ begins to rise!”
Plans also include a merchandise booth where a tournament poster will be sold that was designed by the host Peewee team.
“One of the kids on the team is very artistic,” explained Old. “He also designed the logo for the shirts that we will be selling at the event. It is pretty cool!”
In the 2009 championship Saskatoon, SK topped Sherwood Park, AB in the Gold Medal game.
Over in London, ON the National Midget Championship will take place at three different venues with historic Labatt Park acting as the main field. Tournament organizer and Head Coach of the host London Badgers Midget club, Mike Lumley, is expecting a great week of baseball.
“The intensity factor in this tournament will be so much higher than any other event,” explained Lumley. “With the best Midget teams in country coming to London, it will be a higher calibre of competition than (people) are used to seeing.”
Lumley’s Badgers won the 2009 event in Fredericton, NB and will look to defend their title on home turf. Other teams that will be vying for the National Championship include: Maple Ridge (BC), Edmonton (Alberta), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Tecumseh (Ontario), two clubs representing Québec, Fredericton (New Brunswick) and Halifax (Nova Scotia).
Eight teams will compete for the Junior National Championship in Trois-Riviéres, Québec. This is the second straight year that the Junior championship will be in Trois-Riviéres. Two venues will host all of the games including the renovated Stade Fernand Bédard which will see the majority of games played. The host Trois-Riviéres club will be joined by teams from Yorkton (Saskatchewan), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Pickering (Ontario), a team from the Montreal region (Québec), Moncton (New Brunswick), Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) and St. John’s (Newfoundland).
In 2009, a team from the Montreal area defeated the Windsor Selects (Ontario 2) in the Gold Medal game.
Notes: To keep track of all Baseball Canada National Championships including live scoring of all games via Pointstreak, please click on the following link: http://www.baseball.ca/eng_doc.cfm?DocID=145
