The Rocky Mountain Bandits did not get a friendly reception in Montana over the weekend, as they lost four out of five games in a five-day tournament in Polson.
Following the trip across the border, the Bandits returned to their home field at Confederation Park, but had to cancel a pair of home games set for last Tuesday at Confederation Park in order to get some more team rest.
It was a tough tournament for the Bandits in Polson, which lost four games in a row before edging out their only win in their final game on Sunday. The team lost 8-6 to Missoula Pioneers, and struggled against Dillon Cubs with a 12-1 loss and the Missoula Frontiers at 13-2.
Another loss came at the hands of the Mission Valley Mariners by a score of 9-1 but the Bandits managed to end on a high note with a 7-6 victory over the Mission Valley B team.
Bandit’s head coach Paul Mrazek said the team consistently had some troubles while on the pitching mound and up at bat.
“Getting three to five hits a game isn’t really going to win us any games. Usually we need to be getting 8 to 10 hits a game,” said Mrazek. “Pitching wise, with a couple of our pitchers, one had seven walks, we had eight walks in that game, so you put five hits together with eight walks, and a few errors, it’s pretty tough to stay in the game.”
However, the Bandits managed to pull together in the final game and pull out a close 7-6 win to close out the tournament.
“We came back the last game, we only walked one, we made them hit the ball, the boys made the plays, still didn’t have a ton of hits, but it was enough to win by one,” said Mrazek.
The Mission Valley B team was scheduled to come up to Cranbrook on Tuesday, but the Bandits canceled those two match ups and are looking towards the weekend, where they will head down to Kalispell for another tournament.