HAYS — The Great Bend Legion Chiefs start the Hays Wild West Fest Tournament with two pool-play baseball games Friday against McCook, Neb. and Northern Colorado 18 at the Hays High field.
“We don’t know anything about the teams we’re playing,” said Great Bend Chiefs coach Travis Kurth.
The 12-team tournament starts bracket play at 8 a.m. Saturday. The top four pool finishers draw first-round byes into Saturday’s winners bracket quarterfinals. Ties are broken by least runs permitted then most runs scored. Every team is guaranteed four games.
“We’ll go up there and play our best baseball,” Kurth said. “Our summer baseball season has gone pretty well. We’ve had a few games where we haven’t hit the baseball. We’ve had a few bad games. Our strength is we’ve got five or six pitchers who do a really good job on the mound.”
The Salina Falcons (23-2), Hays Eagles (21-3) and Great Bend Chiefs (17-9) will meet for a AAA Zone tournament that will likely start July 18 at the Great Bend Sports Complex. Two teams qualify for AAA state at Leavenworth.
HAYS WILD WEST FEST
LARKS PARK, HAYS HIGH
THURSDAY
Russell 4, Hays Junior 3
Hays Eagles 13, Hoisington 5
FRIDAY
8 a.m.—Great Bend Chiefs vs. McCook, Neb.
10 a.m.—Buhler vs. Liberal; Hays-TMP vs. Northern Colorado 17
Noon—Hoisington vs. Northern Colorado 17; Russell vs. Norton
2 p.m.—Great Bend vs. Northern Colorado 18; Buhler vs. Hays-TMP
4 p.m.—Hays Junior vs. Norton; Liberal vs. McCook, Neb.
6 p.m.—Hays Eagles vs. Northern Colorado 18
SATURDAY
Bracket play—8 a.m., 10, noon, 2, 4, 6, 8
SUNDAY
Bracket play—Semifinals—8 a.m.; Losers bracket—10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m.; Championship—4 p.m.