Three hometown teams were in contention as the Duncan Junior Baseball Association played host to the tadpole regional championships last weekend.
The Duncan Red Sox, Dodgers and RiverCats all held their own as 15 teams of eight- and nine-year-old ballplayers from all over Vancouver Island convened at Evans Park for the tournament.
The Red Sox finished fourth overall, edged 9-8 by Nanaimo Black in the bronze-medal game, and the Dodgers lost 10-8 to the Carnarvon Cannons in the tournament semifinal.
The RiverCats went 2-2 in pool play, and were also runners-up in the skills competition base race. RiverCats player Smith Evans finished second in the home run derby, and coach Steve Lavigne was runner-up in the coaches challenge, which saw one coach from each team take at bats against water balloons.
Tournament organizer Shannon McKinlay was pleased with the way things went.
“Super exciting, especially after being in lockdown for a year,” she said. “Our kids missed a full season of baseball in 2020, but you wouldn’t have known from watching. The kids played some great ball games.”
The Comox Valley Jets came out on top of the tournament, beating the Carnarvon Cannons on a walk-off double in the final.