Grand Falls-Windsor Braves heading to Nova Scotia for Atlantic baseball championships

Looking to continue the streak

The Grand Falls-Windsor Braves 13u AA team are headed to the 13u AA Atlantic championships being held in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Members of the team are, from left, coach Jamie Jenkins, coach Steven Gregory, Peter Gill, Faith Davis, Colby Bennett, Brock Drover, Ben Blake, bat boy Jaxon Blake, Isiah Mercer, Josh Smith, Drew Whelan, Luke Healey, Logan Elliottt, Morgan Beaton and coach Todd Blake. CONTRIBUTED/THE CENTRAL VOICE - Contributed

GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR, N.L. — If you had to pick a theme of the summer for the 2019 version of the Grand Falls-Windsor 13u AA Braves you might choose winning.
The team already brought home two tournament titles after early season victories at the Mary Tavenor Invitational held in Corner Brook in early July and the McDonald Invitational tournament held in Mount Pearl in August.
That streak continued at the13u AA provincial championship held Aug. 23-25 in Grand Falls-Windsor when the Braves knocked off the formidable St. John’s Capitals 8-6 in the finals of the tournament.
“We weren’t sure we were going to win when it went to extra innings,” said Braves’ shortstop Drew Whelan.
Now the team is looking to keep its winning ways going as they prepare to head to Nova Scotia for the 13u AA Atlantic Championships being held in Springhill this weekend.
It will be most of the team's second straight trip to the Atlantics after the team won the right to represent their province at the same tournament last summer.
“It is great being able to travel and play baseball in another province,” said catcher Josh Stacey.
Athletes are always looking to test themselves against others to see how their talent matches up.
This weekend, the Braves will get the opportunity to do just that when they meet teams from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in competition.
“I want to see the talent level of the players,” said second baseman and occasional pitcher Ben Blake.
In these tournaments baseball is always one of the priorities, but it isn’t everything.
There is camaraderie time spent at the hotel and elsewhere away from the field. The true meaning of team becomes even more important as players grow even closer on trips far from home.
As if waiting for Atlantic tournament wasn’t long enough, the summer inevitably rolled into the school year and that wait became even longer.
Now, their wait is over.
“It needed to go a lot quicker,” said Stacey.