With the regular season over, the Class A American Legion zone tournament is looming ahead for the Great Bend Braves.
On Wednesday at 6 p.m., the Braves will be heading to Hays to play the winner of the Hays-Ness City game at Larks Park.
Great Bend earned itself a first-round bye with a 23-8 record, taking the first seed in the zone.
The Braves last games of the regular season pitted them against Hays. That doubleheader was the only one this season where Great Bend was swept.
Now the Braves have a chance at redemption in the zone tournament.
“Hays has a couple of good arms and they hit the ball well,” Braves head coach Randy Beck said Hays (17-25). “They are the only team to sweep us this year.”
Ness City takes a 9-17 record into Wednesday’s action.
“On the Ness City team, they have one kid what throws very well on the mound,” Beck said. “He throws very hard. He’s a quality kid.”
Going into the postseason, the Braves’ bats have cooled off a little. However, that doesn’t seem to matter too much for a team that began the season scoring 30 runs in one night.
Part of that is due to Dakota Conaway having to sit out after an injury during the Fourth of July weekend.
Now it seems what was originally thought to be a broken finger is not such a bad injury.
“We started the season hot at the plate,” Beck said. “As it went on, the bats cooled off a little. Dakota Conaway broke his finger but it ended up being a tendon so we’ve got him back.
“So we got our shortstop back, too. That’ll free up kids at other positions.”
The tournament is a double elimination format. If the Braves win, they will face the winner of the Dodge City-Larned game on Thursday at 5 p.m.
If Great Bend loses, it will play at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

CLASS A AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL
Zone tournament seeding
1. Great Bend, 23-8  (.742)
2. Dodge City, 26-10 (.722)
3. Larned, 16-9 (.640)
4. Hays, 17-25 (.405)
5. Ness City, 9-17 (.346)