It was a wonderful weekend in Aurora.

The Aurora-King Baseball Association hosted a splendid 16-team tournament that featured some of the very best 9U teams from across the province.

All 34 games, which took place at Town Park and the Aurora Family Leisure Complex, were taken care of by a wonderful food truck thanks to the Aurora Optimist Club and Sport Aurora's Concierge Service, who contributed to ensuring the guest experience was more than satisfactory.

In a statement, Sport Aurora thanked all visiting teams, the Optimist Club, volunteers and expertise from St. Andrew's College for all of their efforts and support.

The tournament, which ran from Friday all the way to Sunday, saw the La Salle Titans defeat the Royal York Select Cardinals in a pulsating 11-10 victory.

"This was a highly competitive tournament, as the close scores all weekend demonstrated,” said AKBA tournament director and 9U coach, Joel Malley in the release.

It is why this tournament is so valued across Ontario.

This kind of early competition is important to teams looking to build team cohesion and test skills.

In pool D, the AKBA 9U had an outstanding start to the competition. In their first game on Friday, the Aurora-King Jays won a thrilling game against their cross-town rival the Newmarket Hawks 16-13.

On Saturday, in their second round-robin game, the Jays tied the Mississauga North Tigers 7-7 before thrashing the Hamilton Cardinals 28-11 in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, in the championship quarter finals in the evening, the Jays fell 19-4 to the Caledon Nationals.

Coach Malley was thrilled with his team's performance.

"These players were in it all weekend and while it was disappointing to not make the Finals in our own tournament, they learned a lot about competition.  The parents were supportive and of course were proud of the players' efforts,” Malley said in the press release.

AKBA and Sport Aurora can't wait to host another tournament soon.

The 10U tournament is set to take place from July 8-10.

Sport Aurora is also working with the Aurora Diggers to assist them in planning tournaments as well this summer.

Stay tuned!

By Robert Belardi