TRURO, N.S. – The Home Hardware Truro Bearcats under 11 baseball team will chase a provincial crown this weekend in Kennetcook.
The Bearcats are competing at the eight-team U11 Tier 1 Nova Scotia championship Friday to Sunday, hosted by Hants North.
Truro opens the tournament on Friday against the host team at 1:30 p.m., followed by preliminary games on Saturday against Hantsport at 11:30 a.m. and the Dartmouth Diamond Dawgs at 4:30 p.m. Crossover semifinals will be played on Sunday at 9 a.m. with the final slated for noon.
The Bearcats enter the championship after a highly successful regular season, where they posted an 18-4 record in provincial Bluenose league play. The only teams that had better records than the local squad were the AA Sydney Sooners (17-1-1) and Yarmouth Gateways (15-2).
“We’re having a lot of fun, so that’s the main thing,” said Bearcats coach Darson Murphy.
“It’s a good group of kids; they’re all committed and it’s great.”
Murphy said a big part of tournament play will be managing pitch counts. Pitchers are only permitted to throw a certain number of pitches before rest periods are enforced.
“It’s very strategic trying to figure out what arms you’re going to have for Sunday,” he laughed. “But the big thing is you’ve got to make it to Sunday.”
Other teams competing in this weekend’s tournament include Yarmouth, Clark’s Harbour, East Hants and Porter’s Lake.
