There will be not one, not two, but five Cranbrook Bandits baseball teams in action this weekend. All but the Senior ‘A’ squad are hosting competition in town, meaning that local ball fans will have no shortage of viewing options.
The Cranbrook Bandits Junior rep teams are hosting the third annual ‘Bandits Slugfest’ tournament from Friday to Sunday, with opposition travelling from around the region to play ball in the Key City. The 10U division will feature five teams playing at the small Confederation Park fields, the 11Us will have four teams playing at Moir Centennial Park field two, and the 15Us will have five teams playing at Moir fields one and three.
The 10U tournament kicks off at 3:00 p.m. on Friday with a game between the hometown Junior Bandits and the Trail Chinooks. The Lethbridge SWLL All-Stars, Medicine Hat Minor All-Stars and the Kelowna COMBA Sun Devils will also be participating, with each team playing each other once in the round robin. In the playoff bracket, the first place team will advance straight to the finals, while second and third place will compete for a spot in the game and the fourth and fifth place teams will play a consolation game.
The U11 tournament also begins with the Junior Bandits, with the home team taking on the Spokane Cubs at 4:30 p.m. The four-team division is rounded out by the Lethbridge Mounties and the Medicine Hat Major AAA squad. The bracket will have a pair of semi-finals, with the winners going to the championship and the losers facing off in consolation.
The U15 tournament, meanwhile, gets going at 2:15 p.m. with the Bandits facing Idaho’s Hayden Astros. Their event will be structured in the same way as the U10 tourney, with the Calgary Junior Dinos, the Trail Orioles and the Medicine Hat Tigers 14U AAA team in attendance.
Playing at the large field at Confederation Park, separate to the tournament, will be the Cranbrook Junior ‘B’ Bandits American Legion team, who are hosting the Glacier Twins in a doubleheader on Saturday.
After 22 games so far this season, the ‘B’ team has 10 wins and is 2-4 in conference play. The Bandits have also had four games cancelled due to weather and their most recent doubleheader in which they were outscored 42-20 and picked up a pair of losses to the Twins.
The only team that will be away from Cranbrook this weekend is the Bandits Senior ‘A’ American Legion squad, who are continuing their regulars season in Libby against the Loggers on Saturday.
Playing a doubleheader, Cranbrook will be looking to improve upon their 2-4 conference play record. Despite having played in two tournaments in Libby earlier this year, this will be the Bandits first game against the Loggers, who have struggled this summer and currently hold a 1-7 record in the Montana-Alberta league West ‘A’ standings.
Following the weekend, on Monday the Bandits ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams are scheduled to host Spokane’s Ferris High School for exhibition games.
2018 Bandits Slugfest Round Robin Schedule
10U Division
| DATE | TIME | HOME | AWAY | FIELD |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 3 PM | CRANBROOK | TRAIL | CONFEDERATION 1 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 3 PM | KELOWNA | LETHBRIDGE | CONFEDERATION 2 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 5:15 PM | CRANBROOK | MEDICINE HAT | CONFEDERATION 1 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 5:15 PM | LETHBRIDGE | TRAIL | CONFEDERATION 2 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 7:15 PM | KELOWNA | MEDICINE HAT | CONFEDERATION 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 9 AM | CRANBROOK | KELOWNA | CONFEDERATION 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 11:30 AM | LETHBRIDGE | MEDICINE HAT | CONFEDERATION 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 11:30 AM | TRAIL | KELOWNA | CONFEDERATION 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 2 PM | TRAIL | MEDICINE HAT | CONFEDERATION 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 2 PM | CRANBROOK | LETHBRIDGE | CONFEDERATION 1 |
11U Division
| DATE | TIME | HOME | AWAY | FIELD |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 4:30 PM | CRANBROOK | SPOKANE | MOIR 2 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 7 PM | LETHBRIDGE | MEDICINE HAT | MOIR 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 9 AM | MEDICINE HAT | SPOKANE | MOIR 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 11:30 PM | CRANBROOK | LETHBRIDGE | MOIR 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 1 PM | SPOKANE | LETHBRIDGE | MOIR 2 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 3:30 PM | CRANBROOK | MEDICINE HAT | MOIR 2 |
15U Division
| DATE | TIME | HOME | AWAY | FIELD |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 2:15 PM | CRANBROOK | HAYDEN | MOIR 1 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 2:15 PM | TRAIL | CALGARY | MOIR 3 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 9 AM | HAYDEN | MEDICINE HAT | MOIR 1 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 11:30 PM | CRANBROOK | TRAIL | MOIR 1 |
| FRIDAY, JULY 6 | 8 AM | MEDICINE HAT | CALGARY | MOIR 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 10:15 AM | HAYDEN | TRAIL | MOIR 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 12:30 PM | CRANBROOK | CALGARY | MOIR 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 2:45 PM | TRAIL | MEDICINE HAT | MOIR 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 5 PM | CALGARY | HAYDEN | MOIR 1 |
| SATURDAY, JULY 7 | 7:15 PM | CRANBROOK | MEDICINE HAT | MOIR 1 |
