Last weekend, starting Thursday, August 30th, Bruins Baseball hosted the 1st annual ‘Beat the Heat 17 and under Baseball Tournament’ and for an entire weekend, it felt like summer again.
Six teams from the surrounding area joined the Brookings Bruin 17u team for 4 days of baseball. All the teams worked through some rusty baseball after not being on a field since last summer, but just like riding a bike, they proved you just don’t forget how to play.
Of course before any baseball could be played, many people behind the scenes worked hard to work through an abundance of logistics that had to happen before these young men could safely be able to play.
Teams from Eureka, Fort Bragg, Siskiyou including young men from Yreka, Mt. Shasta, and Etna, two teams from Northern Humboldt including young men from Arcata, Mckinleyville, and Del Norte, and a team from Coos Bay (Marshfield) traveled to Brookings, and their responses were “amazing and they truly enjoyed coming to our community and spending time getting to know our town” Coach Wallin said.
Under the circumstances, this summer was all about getting out and playing for the love of the game.” Coach Wallin said. “We were able to get in 13 games(all at home), and that’s 13 more than most, so the message all summer was have fun, get better, and be thankful for this opportunity.”
The Bruins were able to make it to the semi-finals and lost a great game to a very talented Fort Bragg team 5-3.
The Northern Humboldt Giants defeated Fort Bragg 10-8 to win the first annual ‘Beat the Heat’ championship.
