Sunday was a special day for the boys at the Prairie Baseball Academy. With a 5-3 win over VIBI the Dawgs captured their 5^th straight CCBC Championship Title. The Dawgs have now held that title for over 1800 straight days. A feat that has never been close to being matched.

The boys jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st inning on a Josh Wray RBI single. VIBI responded by tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the 3^rd, but PBA answered in the bottom half scoring 3 runs. The offense was once again led by sophomore Josh Wray who was 3-4 with 2 RBI’s on the afternoon. Corey Scammell was 2-3 with an RBI, Tanner Banks was 3-5 with 2 runs scored and freshman catcher Mitch Grisbrook also collected a pair of hits. The team continued to get contributions from all parts of the lineup, something that was noticeable all tournament. 

On the pitching side, the Dawgs had plenty of arms left to get them through the game. Sophomore Pat Kelley started the game going four strong innings. Kelley gave up 3 hits, 1 run and struck out 3. Ben Kennedy followed, and also pitched four innings. He gave up 5 hits, 2 runs and struck out 3. Heading into the bottom of the 9^th, Kennedy found himself in trouble. He gave up three straight singles to lead off the inning. At this point Coach Hubka turned to Luc Hebert who had not pitched a lot coming into the tournament due to an arm injury. Luc did not crumble under the pressure of a bases loaded nobody out situation. The first batter Luc faced grounded into a momentum crushing double play. The next batter hit a lazy line drive to first baseman Scammell and the boys celebrated, “Dawg” piling near first base.

Coach Hubka was extremely proud of the team. They battled through some ups and downs during the season. However when it was time to get to business the kids responded. The goal going into the weekend was to make it easier than last year and win all five baseball games. That is exactly what the team did. Coach Hubka announced to the team on Thursday “the only way a team is going to beat us is if we beat ourselves. Man for man we are the most talented team in this tournament, and if we play to our capability we will end this weekend with a 5^th straight championship.” Coach Hubka nailed it on the head with those remarks. The Dawgs played like the best team in the tournament all weekend, and they have a 5^th straight CCBC Championship to show for it.

The Prairie Baseball Academy would like to thank all of the fans, and volunteers who helped make this year’s CCBC tournament a huge success.  It is an exciting time for baseball in Lethbridge, and it is certain that the Dawgs will be back in September working hard to try to capture a 6^th CCBC Championship in a row.