The Cranbrook Bandits ‘A’ team will look to defend their home field in the championship match of the 2017 Bandits Wood Bat Invitational tomorrow (May 28) at 2 p.m.
The U19 ‘A’ Bandits went 2-1 in their round robin games on Friday and Saturday, earning themselves a chance to win the tournament on Sunday afternoon.
The championship, however, will be a game against the Calgary Redbirds, the only team to have defeated the Bandits in the round robin. The Bandits-Redbirds showdown was the last game on Saturday night and ended in a 3-1 win for Calgary.
The Bandits booked their way into the finals by beating the Calgary Jr. Dinos 10-6 on Friday afternoon and the Lethbridge Lakers 6-5 on Saturday morning.
Although the Jr. Dinos also finished with a 2-1 record in the round robin, the Bandits advanced to play the 3-0 Redbirds instead of them as the tiebreaker was determined by the head-to-head winner of the Dinos and Bandits game.
In the third place consolation game at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow, the Dinos will face the Mission Valley Mariners, who went 2-1 despite winning their first game 12-4 over Lethbridge.
The Cranbrook Bandits ‘B’ team, on the other hand, struggled throughout the tournament, losing all three games. They kicked off the tournament with a 12-0 loss to the Redbirds, then fell 17-1 to the Dinos, and finally lost an 8-7 heartbreaker to Lethbridge that was decided in an extra inning.
The ‘B’ Bandits will play in the fifth-place game at 9:00 a.m. in a rematch against Lethbridge.
All of the Sunday games will be played a Confederation Park in Cranbrook.
Full Results and Championship Schedule:
Friday, May 26:
Cranbrook ‘A’ vs. Calgary Jr. Dinos (10-6 Cranbrook)
Mission Valley vs. Lethbridge (12-4 Mission Valley)
Cranbrook ‘B’ vs. Calgary Redbirds (12-0 Redbirds)
Saturday, May 27:
Calgary Redbirds vs. Mission Valley (7-1 Redbirds)
Cranbrook ‘B’ vs. Calgary Jr. Dinos (17-1 Dinos)
Cranbrook ‘A’ vs. Lethbridge (6-5 Cranbrook)
Calgary Jr. Dinos vs. Mission Valley (4-2 Dinos)
Lethbridge vs. Cranbrook ‘B’ (8-7 Lethbridge)
Calgary Redbirds vs. Cranbrook ‘A’ (3-1 Redbirds)
Sunday, May 28:
9:00 a.m. – Lethbridge (5th) vs. Cranbrook ‘B’ (6th)
11:15 a.m. – Calgary Jr. Dinos (3rd) vs. Mission Valley (4th)
2:00 p.m. – Calgary Redbirds (1st) vs. Cranbrook ‘A’ (2nd)