By Troy Gillard

Great Chief Park

Western Canada’s best midget baseball teams to battle for gold in Red Deer

Aug 13, 2019 | 4:09 PM

High-calibre baseball action takes to the diamond in Red Deer this weekend with the 18U AAA Western Canadian Baseball Championship happening at Great Chief Park.

The Red Deer Carstar Braves are the host team for the tournament. They’ll be joined by the Northern Lights Baseball Academy (Grande Prairie), Saskatoon Cubs, North Winnipeg Pirates and North Delta Blue Jays.

“It’s a significant hosting venture,” says tournament chair Renae Clark. “We have hosted a number of provincials in the past, but for the duration that I’ve been with Red Deer Minor Baseball, which is eight years, we haven’t hosted Westerns.

“It’s a great opportunity for us and the kids that don’t always get the opportunity to go to Westerns.”

Clark says leaving a good impression last year when hosting Midget AAA Tier 1 Provincials helped Red Deer land this weekend’s tournament.

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“We had representatives from Baseball Alberta attend that (event). They were really happy with how we ran it and they are always impressed with the beauty of Great Chief Park as a hosting venue.”

Clark expects a couple thousand people to take in this weekend’s tournament.

Each team is made up of 16 to 18 year old players, along with two 19 year olds.

The tournament is free to attend. Opening ceremonies go Thursday at 6 p.m. followed by the first game between Red Deer and Northern Lights Academy at 7:30.

Round-robin games run all day Friday and Saturday.

The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Sunday (5:30 p.m. if a tiebreaker game is needed).