The East Central 15U AAA Dodgers had another great weekend at the Evan Thomas Memorial Baseball Tournament in Saskatoon walking away with the title . The tournament honours the legacy of former Humboldt Bronco, Evan Thomas. 

The Dodgers had a bit of unfinished business taking silver in last year's event.  This year, the squad had a strong showing, going 6 and 0 in the tourney. They knocked off the Saskatoon Astros, Regina Athletics, Parkland (Edmonton area) Twins before dispatching the South East A’s in pool play. 

The opening game was a true defensive duel, says head coach Derek Rude. 

"The boys kept getting stronger as the weekend went on," says Rude. "The boys had a hard-fought game right off the bat against the Saskatoon Astros. There were only three hits in the whole game, but really good pitching and defense. We pulled that out with a 1-0 win."

With that, the Dodgers advanced to the semi-final against league rivals the Moose Jaw Canucks. Their victory saw them advance to the final match against South Central, a team from southern Manitoba around the Winkler area, where the Dodgers secured the championship with a walk-off run. 

As an added bonus to the weekend, Dodgers’ catcher Cade Armstrong, who hails from Watrous, took MVP honours. 

The team has shown steady improvement throughout the season, says Rude. 

"We're a young team, so it took a little bit of time to build that confidence and experience, but we're rolling now. We have 9 regular season games left, so we want to finish off strong and get into the top 8 for provincial which will happen in a couple weeks." 

The Dodgers are back on the road with league play tomorrow in Saskatoon, as they take on the AAA Expos. Their last home stand is a double header coming up this Saturday against the Athletics.