The Brandon Sun and the Victoria Inn present the return of International Softball to Brandon. The New Zealand Jr. Men’s team will play against the La Salle Bullets at Simplot Millennium Park on Tuesday, June 20th (7:00 p.m.).
New Zealand is on a tour of Saskatchewan and Manitoba next month, a tour which also includes their participation in a tournament put on by Softball Manitoba in Portage on Father’s Day weekend.
The tour is part of the preparation process for New Zealand in advance of the 2018 WBSC Jr. Men’s Championship in Prince Albert in July of 2018.
New Zealand is currently #1 in the WBSC Men’s rankings, and their Jr. Men’s team claimed the silver medal at the Junior Men’s World Softball Championship last summer in Midland, Michigan.
New Zealand’s opponent for the night is the La Salle Bullets, whose roster includes former Canadian National team member Brady Woods.
The Bullets play out of the Winnipeg Men’s Fastball League, and will be representing Manitoba at the Softball Canada Men’s Championship in Saskatoon later this year.
In addition to The Brandon Sun and Victoria Inn, the event is being put on by the Westman Softball Association, Brandon Minor Baseball Association and the Westman Softball Umpires’ Association.
This is the first international softball event to be held in Brandon since Canada and the USA played at Curran Park in advance of the 1999 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg.
The game on June 20th will be the first of four major softball events to be held in Brandon in 2017.
The Softball Manitoba U14 ‘A’ Girls’ Championship will be put on by the WSUA from July 21-23 at Simplot Park, the U16 Western Canadian Softball Championship will be held at the Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex from August 10-13 and Dickinson State Blue Hawks are scheduled to be in Brandon for the grand opening of the ANSC in September.
