The host Andre’s Athletics reached the final before settling for second best at the 2016 edition of the Andre Blanleil Sr. Memorial Fastball Tournament last weekend at King Stadium.
With the tournament being challenged for much of the weekend by the rainy weather, the Fleetwood Marlins took home top honours, defeating the Athletics 12-5 in Sunday’s final.
Andre’s played three games back-to-back-to-back, coming in the back door but then ran out of gas against a young Fleetwood team.
Chad Blanleil of Andre’s hit five home runs during the weekend and was named the tourney’s MVP.
The annual event honours the memory of Andre Blanleil Sr., a longtime player and coach in Kelowna.
A tribute was also paid Friday to Andre’s late wife, Eileen, who was known around the ballpark as Granny, the energetic lady with the bell and booming voice.
Organizers had to contend with rainouts all weekend, but ground crews worked long and diligently to ensure the tournament would be completed.
“All around a great weekend of ball,” said tournament organizer Kyle Blanleil. “Granny and Sr would have been proud how hard we worked getting the field ready and even more proud how hard we played on the field.”
