The Cross Lake Braves went 4-0 to claim the championship at the seventh-annual Larry Ens Memorial Fastball Tournament June 20-21 at Nickel Days, defeating the Whickey Jack Bandits 5-2 in Sunday's final to claim the $900 top prize.
The Braves shut out both the Cross Lake Cuzins and the Thompson Buccaneers in the round robin, putting four past Cross Lake and the game's only run in a 1-0 pitchers' duel against Thompson. They also beat the Bandits 4-3.
The Bandits defeated the Cuzins in the semi-final earlier June 21 to earn a chance at the title.
The Cuzins' only round-robin win was a 12-3 decision over the Buccaneers, who lost 4-3 to the Bandits in their third game.
"It was a good tournament," said organizer Sam Antila, who was a also a participant on the Buccaneers, though he would have liked to see twice as many teams and a few wins for his squad. "The quality of ball is great."
He praised Cross Lake for their win - and also for providing an umpire - noting that with four or five teams in their community and a couple of tournaments under their belts, the Cross Lake squads are further along than Thompson, which has now played its first three games of the year.
"I'm really, really happy that we've got lots of new young guys coming out," said Antila, who had only one player from out of town among the 14 on his roster for the weekend's tournament.
A few other players will join the Buccaneers for provincials in Winnipeg July 17-19.
"We've got two other pitchers signed," said Antila. "I like our chances there."
Until then it's practice and hopefully a few more games.
"We're hoping to get to one coming up," Antila said about future tournaments in Cross Lake. "We'd certainly like to go."
If not, he said the Buccs would try to schedule exhibition games in Cross Lake, which has a lighted field.
