The Campbell River Bantam A Tyees continued their unbeaten season last weekend, clinching the Island Championships and booking their ticket to provincials.
The Tyees won each of their four games at the Island Championships tournament held at Nunns Creek Park on July 27 and 28, dispatching the Nanaimo Pirates 12-2 Saturday, the Comox Valley Jets 24-7 early Sunday afternoon and the Ladysmith 49ers 17-8 later on Sunday.
Coach Stewart Dumont said it was the team’s goal to earn the Island’s first-place berth for provincials.
“It’s really exciting for the kids,” he said.
The Bantam A Tyees, a 15-and-under team, also won the provincial title last year.
Dumont said that six of the players are back this year, while four of the first-year players have won a provincial championship before.
The team has only been playing together for around a month.
“It’s been a good run,” said Stewart.
The Tyees were down 7-3 at the top of the third inning in their final game of the weekend against the Ladysmith 49ers.
“They gave us a good run there when we were down 7-3 and their bats came alive and their starting pitcher held us down,” said Stewart of the 49ers.
The Tyees made a slight pitching change, said Stewart, and got some timely hitting from up and down the line up.
“We made a couple errors, but we didn’t compound those errors because we didn’t get panicked,” he said.
Campbell River maxed out their possible earned runs in the bottom of the third, to take the lead 9-7.
They wouldn’t step off the gas for the remainder of the game, winning 17-8 in the top of the sixth.
Stewart called the win a “team effort.”
“I’m just super proud of the kids and super proud of the parents for putting on a good tournament,” said Stewart.
The Tyees had a scare at the end of their third game when pitcher Wyatt Ramos was struck in the throat by the ball.
Stewart said Ramos sat out their final game of the tournament as a precaution and would be back in the line-up for provincials.
Two more Campbell River teams booked their tickets to provincials over the weekend. Both the PeeWee A Tyees and the Mosquito AA Tyees will compete against the best teams from across the province in August.
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