The Cranbrook Banditas women’s fastball team will make their tournament debut at the 2017 Sicamous Ladies Open this weekend.
The Banditas are in their first year of action and have so far only played in exhibition contests. According to catcher and team founder Sarah Coles, the new squad is excited to finally get into competitive play.
“Our pitching staff has been working really hard,” Coles said. “We’re just hoping to come together as a team and see what we’ve got on the field and see where we stand in comparison to the rest of our competition.”
On Saturday, May 27, they’ll kick off the weekend with a 10 a.m. game against the Kelowna Heat U18 squad.
The Heat have some familiar faces, as the Kelowna team features three Cranbrook-natives: Ali Giesbrecht, Brea McCormack and Tyler Carver.
“They’re a couple of really good girls,” Coles said. “It’s actually going to be fun to play against them after coaching them [and watching them over the develop].”
The Banditas will then play the Fleetwood Force, of Surrey, BC at 2 p.m. and the New Westminster Kaos at 4 p.m. Following the round robin, every team in the tournament will be seeded for single knockout playoffs which will start at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.
“We are really hoping to focus on getting good at bats, putting the bat on the ball, hitting the ball hard [and] executing our bunts in part of the short game,” Coles said.
There will be 12 total teams at the Sicamous tournament with teams ranging from the Lower Mainland to Edmonton. Following the weekend, the Banditas will play a home game against Elkford on June 4 and then participate in the Senior ‘B’ Provincial tournament at London Park in Richmond, BC from July 28 to 30.
