With a couple of weeks to go before the Minor Prairie Championship in Lethbridge, the Moose Jaw Minor AAA All-Stars made their way to Medicine Hat this past weekend for a tune-up tournament.

If their performance is any indication, the local squad should be feeling good about their chances heading into the Prairie Championships.

Moose Jaw walked away with the Medicine Hat Summer Smash Tournament title after beating Calgary South, 13-11, in the final on Sunday.

“The boys battled hard right through to the end and to come away with the win was pretty cool,” said head coach Greg Thul.

Max Simmons and Nathan Pisio combined to pitch Moose Jaw to the win in the tournament final, while Kale Pratte led the offence, going 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Pratte also doubled up two Calgary South players to end the game.

Moose Jaw finished with 17 hits in the final and scored 67 runs over five games at the tournament.

“Our hitting has been really good all season, so it was nice to see them continue on that road against some tougher competition,” said Thul. “We’ve got one more job to do at the Prairies, so hopefully keep everything rolling and keep the bats hot for sure.”

Moose Jaw opened with a 7-6 win over Calgary West on Friday to kick-off pool play and then scored a 15-4 win over Medicine Hat in their second game. They locked up top spot in their pool with an 18-4 win over Foothills Calgary on Saturday night.

In the playoff round, Moose Jaw knocked off Lethbridge 16-6 in the semifinals on Sunday morning to clinch their spot in the final.

While the offence powered Moose Jaw throughout the tournament, Thul added that they played solid all around.

“We had a few struggles in the field from time-to-time, but nothing that stopped us from coming away with a win,” he said. “Our pitching was excellent all weekend again, we had a lot of real good starts, just solid all the way through, it didn’t matter who we had on there, it felt like we had a chance to win.”

The tournament served as a good tune-up for the Prairie Championships next week as many of the teams that Moose Jaw beat is who they will see in Lethbridge.

“It’s good to have a look at them and have an idea of what we’re going to be up against,” said Thul. “We played a couple of really good teams, so it was good to see the boys come together and come away with the title.”

The Minor AAA All-Stars open the Prairie Championship on Aug. 4 in Lethbridge.