A pair of baseball tournaments are relying on some co-operation from Mother Nature on a long weekend with rain in the forecast.
The annual Victoria Mavericks event is to begin today at 1 p.m. at Lambrick Park diamonds with the Mavericks all-star team being joined by Puget Sound, Langley and Nanaimo in the senior ball tournament.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an ice-breaker for our all-star team, which is hosting provincials in August,鈥� said Gautam Srivistava, the president of the Mavericks Baseball League. 鈥淚n the past we鈥檝e put all our league teams in, but this season we decided we would just go with the all-star team.鈥�
The tournament has changed over the years, Srivistava said.
鈥淲hen the Canadian dollar was really low compared to the U.S. dollar, we used to get a lot of American teams coming up. Now with it being par we鈥檙e not getting those teams,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going with the four teams as an ice-breaker as they will be meeting in provincials later in the year.鈥�
Nanaimo faces Puget Sound at 1 p.m. today while the Mavericks take on Langley at 1:30 p.m. The hosts will then face Puget Sound at 5 p.m. while Nanaimo faces Langley at the same time.
A home run derby is slated for 7:30 p.m., all weather permitting, of course.
The tournament resumes Sunday at 11 a.m. with the championship game slated for Monday at 10:30 a.m. after semifinals on Saturday at 3 and 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Victoria Eagles and Victoria Mariners sa国际传媒 Premier League team are both at the Parksville tournament, which was slated to begin Friday with rain already affecting play up Island.
鈥淭ypical May long weekend,鈥� said Srivistava, who was managing the Eagles team for the weekend.
The Parksville tournament 鈥� which includes the host Royals鈥� team, North Delta, White Rock, Vancouver, Whalley, the two Victoria clubs and Okotoks, Alta. 鈥� is slated to continue through until Monday鈥檚 championship game at 12:30 p.m.
