Four Salmon Arm baseball teams went to bat in Kelowna and two brought home gold and silver medals.
The Salmon Arm Minor Baseball Association brought four teams to the Valley of Champions tournament in Kelowna. Two teams suffered close losses while a third went on to win silver and the fourth was crowned champions of the weekend.
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The Mosquito AAA Hornets started the tournament playing against West Kelowna. It was a close game but West Kelowna won 7-3. Caleb Gubbles was named the Hornet’s MVP for the game.
Next, the Hornets went up to bat against a team from Victoria and lost 11-0. The MVP for the Hornets was Tanner Mayes.
The next day, the Mosquito Hornets came out swinging and won their first game 7-4 against Kelowna. Aidain Jamieson was awarded MVP after pitching four innings. Lastly, the Mosquitos played Prince George. Following a hard-fought game, Prince George won with a score of 11-8. Phoenix Portas was awarded MVP for the game and Layton Jackson was awarded the team’s MVP for the weekend.
The Peewee A team also ended the weekend with a 1-3 record. The first three games were tough losses against Ladner, St. Albert and Richmond. The team finished strong with a close 7-6 win over Kelowna. The team’s MVPs for the weekend included Cale Hendricks, Ava Hawrys, Mikah Richmond and Elijah Gibson.
The Bantam A Hornets started Friday morning against Vernon, coming out on top with a 14-3 win. In their second game that day the Hornets took on Prince George. The Hornets were again victorious with an 11-6 win. Michael Tyssen started the scoring drive with an out-of-the-park home run.
Saturday saw the Bantam A Hornets start the day much as they finished Friday, with a resounding 13-2 win over Surrey. The win streak slowed when the Hornets fell 12-2 to a team from St. Albert. After round-robin play, St. Albert finished in first and Salmon Arm was in second. The teams faced off again in the final game of the tournament Sunday afternoon. St Albert struck first, earning six runs in the first inning. Salmon Arm rallied but was unable to come back and lost the game 10-5. The Bantam A Hornets finished the tournament with a 3-2 record and second place medals.
Bantam A Hornets MVPs included Drake Weissenborn, Conner Keehn, Donnie Robichaud, Gord Squires and Jake Hendricks.
The Hornets Peewee AA team started the weekend by winning their first two games. A 15-3 win over Abbotsford and and 8-3 win over Surrey-Newton. This was followed by two losses on Saturday, the first against Kelowna (3-12) and the second against St. Albert (9-10). The Peewee AA team moved on to the semi finals on Sunday morning, winning 12-2 over North Shore. The team then played the finals where they won 5-3 over Kelowna making them the champions of the tournament.
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The Peewee’s MVPs included Ryan James, Ethan Harrison, Eric Thompson, Bradley Dawson, Tate Spence and Avery Deisroth.
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