Burnaby Minor Baseball will be hosting both the AAA mosquito and single A peewee provincial championships on back-to-back weekends at Kensington Park.
The provincial tournament for 10- to 11-year-old mosquito players will begin on Thursday, July 28 with opening ceremonies taking place at 5:30 p.m. A skills competition will follow the opening.
Seven of the 10 teams have been decided, including Cloverdale and Abbotsford from the Lower Mainland. Vernon, Kamloops, Prince George and Victoria have also already claimed provincial berths.
Round-robin games run all day Friday and Saturday at Kensington, with crossover playoffs and final medal games on Sunday, July 31. The gold-medal final is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The peewee A provincials will be held on the following weekend from Aug. 4 to 8, also at Kensington Park.
The peewee opening ceremonies will take place on Aug. 5.
Burnaby Minor is no stranger to the B.C. minor baseball championships.
Last season, six boys off this season's peewee all-star team went to the mosquito provincial finals in Rutland, taking home the silver medal against Kelowna.
In 2009, the Burnaby Braves went all the way to the Canadian national bantam championships.
The last time, Burnaby Minor hosted a provincial final was in 2006.
At the association's Summer Fun tournament last weekend, Burnaby lost by one run to Delta in the final of the AAA mosquito division final.
"Burnaby has always been a force. We've always been really close and able to develop very competitive teams," said Elise Ferguson, volunteer co-ordinator with the Burnaby association. "It's going to be fun."
Volunteers are always needed for these kinds of special events, including help with groundkeeping, concessions, scoring and pitch counters, Ferguson added.
Anyone interested in helping out, including seniors, is asked to email elise@burnabyminorbase
ball.com.
