The Penticton Tigers, tadpole division, pitched a third-place finish in Kelowna during the Sun Devil tournament last weekend.
This was the squads first tournament playing together as a team.
“It was a lot of fun. Most of the kids have never played in an atmosphere like that where it is competitive. We have a few first year players and they were coming from T-ball so it was a pretty big jump for them. I thought they all did really well,” said coach Cole Marven.
The Tigers faced a powerhouse in White Rock, whose program has sent teams to the Little League World Series, to kick the tournament off. The Tigers didn’t let a 6-2 loss get them down as they rebounded to win three games straight.
“I think if we played them the way we played on the last day of the tournament it might have been a different story. But to only lose one game and only allow three runs all weekend, that is a big accomplishment,” said Marven.
The Tigers defeated the Kelowna Sun Devils 11-1 in their next outing and then defeated the Kamloops River Dogs 9-0. The two squads met again in the third/fourth place game and once again the Tigers came out on top, this time blanking them 11-0.
Nash Marven, Jace Rutten, London Funk and Sam Mullins were all awarded MVPs in their three games. Markus Messing was named Tigers co-MVP in one of the games.
“The kids hit the ball hard every game, ran hard and were solid defensively. Nash and Jace both pitched excellent games and London had some amazing defensive catches,” said Marven.
Next up for the Tigers is a four-team Jamboree on July 13, with teams from Kelowna and Kamloops participating. The Tigers will then head to Abbotsford for the Angels fourth annual Mid-Summer Classic from July 20 to 21.
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