A group of local slo-pitch players will be heading to Kamloops, B.C., next week to compete at the 2015 Kamloops National Championship slo-pitch tournament.
The Prairie Pleasers, a team made up of 14 local ball players as well as one player from Regina, qualified for the 2015 National tournament last August and will be the only team from Saskatchewan travelling to Kamloops after deciding as a whole to attend the B.C. tournament as opposed to the National championship tournament in St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland. 鈥淲e had an option to go to Newfoundland or Kamloops and we chose to go to Kamloops,鈥� said Clorice Kuzek, one of the six competitive female ball players on the Prairie Pleasers, adding that one of the reasons they chose Kamloops was because it was part of a new series. 鈥淚t鈥檚 (the tournament) a new thing called the signature series that involves all of the Western provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
鈥淭here are 19 teams in the tournament in our division and they have levels 鈥楥鈥�, 鈥楧鈥� and 鈥楨鈥� there that weekend and we鈥檝e entered into the 鈥楧鈥� division.鈥�
Kuzek, who has been playing in National tournaments for over 15 years, believes that the Prairie Pleasers should do well at the tournament at the end of the month simply due to the make-up of the team. 鈥淥ur age range is from 24 years old to 47,鈥� offered Kuzek, continuing, 鈥淲e have lots of experience on this team. MacKenzie Unyi and I, we actually played in our first Nationals when we were 16-years-old and now we鈥檙e in our 30鈥檚 and have a lot of experience. We also have people who are new to the Nationals, but overall we should be fine.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very good team, a very fun crowd to be with and I couldn鈥檛 think of a better group of people to be going to Nationals with.鈥�
Kuzek says the tournament, which takes place from July 31 and runs until August 3, starts with a round-robin; something that is more important in slo-pitch than other sports due to the advantage a high ranking after the completion of the round-robin has. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important to finish in the top portion of your pool because then you鈥檙e guaranteed a double life into the playoffs which is key because you may have a bad game,鈥� mentioned Kuzek, meaning a double life allows you to lose once in the playoff side and still compete for the championship. 鈥淚f you finish lower in round-robin then you won鈥檛 have that double life and you鈥檒l be finished if you lose and we would much rather avoid a single elimination playoff round.鈥�
The Prairie Pleasers open the 2015 Kamloops National Tournament up at 9:00a.m.Pacific time against Rage (Edmonton, Alberta). They鈥檒l then take on Hot Mess (Coquitlam, B.C.) at 1:30p.m. on Friday, July 31 before rounding out round-robin play on Saturday, August 1 with a pair of games, one against the Outlaws (Edmonton, Alberta) at 1:30p.m. and the other against Team Goodwood (Vernon, B.C.) at 3:00pm.
