The Okotoks Dawgs 18U Black team were the big winners at the Spokane 2017 Wood Bat Classic, which ran from June 30 to July 3.

The American Legion tournament is for players 19 or younger, with 60 teams participating broken into pools of 5 competing against each other.

Jeff Duda, Dawgs 18U Coach says while the Black team took the title, a portion of the win against the NW Premier was actually thanks to the Dawgs 18U Red team.

"We actually went there short five of our players who had to stay home for their graduation, so we went down there short handed. Luckily we had the Red team in the same tournament as well, and for the championship game we actually borrowed a couple of their arms."

Duda says Aaron Petes started the championship game, and Quinn Tocheniuk got the save, both of which played for the Red team.

He adds it was a grind for the boys, as being short handed meant the athletes had to play ever single of the seven games in just 4 days.

"Usually we carry 22 players, and it'll be a couple games each. But they had to play every single game, and it was 100 degrees out every single day, but they grinded it out and played well."

The Black and Red 18U teams now head to Columbus, Ohio on July 11 for the Buck Eye Elite tournament at the State University.

Duda says it's one of the biggest tournaments of the year for the Dawgs 18U teams.

"It's a huge opportunity for both our Black and Red teams, we're taking both down there so it will be good for them to get exposure, it's probably some of the best competition we'll see all year."

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