Zone 4 (Parkland) got off to a slow start to the Baseball Alberta Zone Championships at Great Chief Park Friday.
The Parkland crew dropped an 11-9 decision to Zone 2.
Corey Twa of Coronation and Brett Barrett of Red Deer shared pitching duties.
Two members of the Red Deer bantam AAA Braves — Joel Mazurkewich and Nik Fischer — had a single and a double each. Fischer drove in two runs and Mazurkewich one. Riley Guntrip of Camrose, who also plays with the Braves , added a double.
In other play, Zone 5 downed Zone 7 11-2, Zone 3 stopped Zone 6 12-2 and Zone 1 edged Zone 8 2-1.
Play continues today and Sunday.
Parkland takes on Zone 5 at noon and Zone 7 at 3 p.m. today. Both games are on Diamond 2.
The playoffs go Sunday with the consolation games at 9 a.m. and the A-side semifinals at noon. The bronze and gold medal games are set for 3 p.m.