After a strong finish to the season, the Red Deer CarStar Braves are headed to the Baseball Alberta Elite League (BAEL) provincial championships as the number two seed.
From July 25-28 the Braves will compete for the gold medal in St. Albert at the Legion Memorial Ball Park against nine other teams.
The U18 AAA squad finished the BAEL regular season with a 24-12 record, which is just four points behind the top-seeded St. Albert Cardinals.
The Braves finished the season winning nine of 12 games in July, which has them feeling confident heading into the provincial tournament.
"We've been playing pretty good this last month," said Braves head coach Josh Zanolli.
"We didn't have the greatest start to the season. We were a little bit sloppy to start but we're doing better now. We've started to hit as a group and our team defence has been exceptional all year. If we can be consistent on the mound this weekend then I think we've got as good of a shot as anyone to win."
Zanolli explained their success over the last few years had his team feeling complacent at the beginning of the year, which showed on the field.
"I don't think guys were quite ready to work at the beginning of the year and we were behind to start. But they put the work in later and we're sure playing well now," he added.
Split into two pools of five, the Braves will face the Calgary Cubs, Midwest Prairie Pirates, Parkland Twins Gold, and the Sherwood Park Dukes. In pool A, the Calgary Bucks, Edmonton Padres, Parkland Twins Blue, St. Albert Cardinals, and Webber Wildcats will battle it out.
The Braves will open the tournament against the Dukes at 3 p.m. on Thursday followed by two games on Friday against the Cubs at noon and the Pirates at 6 p.m. On Saturday they'll wrap up round-robin play against the Twins at 6 p.m.
Depending on how those games turn out, the top two teams from each pool will face each other in the semifinals and eventually the gold medal match on Sunday.
"It's a wide-open tournament. You just never know what's going to happen in provincials... The last couple of years we've been feeling pretty good going in and have had some heartbreakers. A little bit of redemption I think for us this year to make it back and try to win it," Zanolli said.
Last season the Braves hosted the U18 AAA BAEL Provincial Championship at Great Chief Park. They made it to the semifinals before falling to the Calgary Bisons 6-4 falling short of the provincial finals.
"I think there's some unfinished business we need to take care of but we're not focusing on the last couple of years. I think it's definitely there for the guys who played and felt the disappointment of that tournament," he added.
"Having that little bit of an edge going in will hopefully do them some good."
In the Baseball Alberta U18 AAA provincials, the Red Deer Porttin Pipeline Braves finished tied for third in the standings with a 2-1 record.
There were no semi-final matchups because of automatic qualification so the Braves missed out on playing in the provincial final.
Instead, Baseball Alberta sent the top two teams of the tournament to compete for gold on Monday, July 22nd. The Parkland Twins defeated the Calgary Cardinals 6-4 to win the provincial title.
