The host Comox Valley peewee A Jets won the North Island Classic U13 baseball tournament, July 19-21 at Aspen Park in Comox. There were 10 teams competing, nine from Vancouver Island and one from Kelowna.
“Really, really proud of the boys, because they’re 13 and it can go sideways easy,” said Robert Mulrooney, co-coach along with Jamie Tobacca and Darryl Matthews. “They did really well. It’s a good bunch of kids.”
The Jets cruised to a 9-2 win over the Salt Spring Islanders in Sunday’s final.
The road to the final was not easy. The local side needed to overcome a 7-4 deficit in the semifinals to defeat Nanaimo 12-8 in 11 innings.
“We essentially played three games on Sunday, because we usually play six innings,” Mulrooney said. “We played 18 innings of ball on Sunday. That’s a lot. We put a lot of zeroes up. We were probably the best defence in the tournament.”
The Jets compete at the zone playoffs this weekend, July 27 and 28, in Parksville. If they place first or second, the team advances to the provincial tournament Aug. 8-11 in Abbotsford.
Mulrooney said last weekend’s tournament served as a warmup for the Comox Valley AA peewee team, which hosts provincials at Aspen Park on the August long weekend.
“Aspen will be rocking again — even more so,” he said.
