PORT ANGELES — The 17th annual Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic opens today with four games at Civic Field.
The eight-team Firecracker Classic runs through Sunday and will feature four baseball games each day.
The first three days will be pool play. The teams are divided into American and National divisions — four teams in each — and they will play the other three teams in their division once between today and Saturday.
The tournament ends Sunday at 6 p.m. when the American Division’s top team plays the top National team for the championship.
The other teams will play crossover games against the team in the other division with the same divisional ranking.
All games are at Civic Field.
Host Wilder Baseball, which is made up of players from Port Angeles and Sequim, plays its first game against Lakeside Recovery tonight at 8 p.m.
Wilder enters the Firecracker Classic with a 14-7-1 record. The tie came against Lakeside Recovery, a squad made up of players from Issaquah, Skyline, Newport and O’Dea high schools, which also won two of its other three meetings with Wilder
this season.
The first game of the Firecracker Classic is between North Kitsap AAA and the Seattle Titans at 11 a.m.
Following that game, KWRL of Vancouver, Wash., will face Laces Baseball 2 of Everett at
2 p.m.
Sandberg Baseball, coached by former Wilder player and Port Angeles alumnus Eric Lane, will play in the third game against Laces Baseball 1 at 5 p.m.
Wilder has won 13 of the 16 Firecracker Classics, including last year, when it ended a two-year drought by claiming its first title since 2011.
Wilder will play KWRL Centerfield Friday at 7 p.m., and face Laces 2 Saturday at 7 p.m.
The area Senior Babe Ruth team dropped a road game to Lakeside Recovery last Thursday before taking four straight from Northwest Blaze 18U on Saturday and Sunday.
“That was good to sweep the Blaze,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“We’re starting to hit the ball a little better and pitching better.
“We’re coming into our own. It’s good to see. We’re starting to peak a little bit . . . at the right time.”
Wilder will follow the Firecracker Classic with a road doubleheader against North Kitsap AAA next Wednesday.
The following week, it will travel to Ephrata for the six-team Senior Babe Ruth state tournament July 13-15.
If Wilder advances from there, it will play in the Pacific Northwest Regionals in Calgary, Alberta, July 20-26.
This year’s Senior Babe Ruth World Series is Aug. 8-15 in Klamath Falls, Ore.
The cost to attend Firecracker Classic games if $5 for 18 and older. Those younger than 18 get in free.
Full concessions will be available.
