Travel baseball is a hit in Sisters

Photo by Mylee Card

Tabor Card, 12, hit a grand slam on June 2 to help his 12U Bandits defeat the 12U Ravens in Sisters Country Tournament Baseball.

For years, Sisters had not offered a competitive travel baseball program - not even for their home tournament -until the Bandits home-run-trotted in on June 1 to collect some serious hardware.

The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce organizes Sisters Country Tournament Baseball.

"We doubled our divisions this year and did a lot more work on the fields. The Bandits worked on those fields for weeks," said Chamber Membership & Marketing Coordinator Turi Shergold.

Then they knocked it out of their own park.

"It was a new pitcher. They'd just put him in. I think the score was 4-2 at that point. I thought, 'I'm ready for this one,' and then ... first pitch ... yeah," said Tabor Card, 12, whose grand slam vs. the 12U Junior Ravens made the Bandits champions of their home tournament.

"They actually won the 12U division - a pretty big deal for a newer program like theirs. They competed against all of the really established programs in Central Oregon and won the 12U championship. And their 10U were Reserve Champions," second place, Shergold said.

Like many endeavors in town, Bandits Baseball was born from a few people with a vision.

"Three years ago, Thys Kuitert, Chris Cocoran, Bruce Card, and I had a vision to create a successful youth baseball program and develop a fantastic culture for young men," said Bandits 10U Head Coach Colby Summer. "Today, that vision is coming true."

The men, who had sons playing for different travel teams, decided to create a successful program for the young men in Sisters.

"The point of our program is to develop the players at the highest possible point and hand them off to high school to compete at the highest level," said Bandits Baseball President and 12U Head Coach Thys Kuitert. "We aim for a cohesive relationship with Little League and travel baseball in Sisters; all 10U Bandits coaches also coach Little League, and all 10U players play in Little League, then participate in tournaments for Bandits – five tournaments this year."

The 12U team (tournament record: 23-9-1) is all-in on travel ball, playing 10 tournaments a year.

"For 12U in Central Oregon, Bandits is the top-ranked team," Kuitert said.

In Little League, kids get down the basics. Travel ball is more like intensive mentorship.

"A lot of what we're doing is making sure that they get the highest level of coaching," said Kuitert. "It's also about learning to deal with adversity and thrive in pressure situations."

And developing life skills that the boys can take on beyond the time that they play baseball.

"It's truly a game of failure. If you fail seven out of 10 times, you're a Hall of Fame batter in the big leagues. It's about learning to deal with failure; how to overcome it and come back from it."

It's no wonder that parents love the program, and work to improve the experience.

"Baseball offers so much more than skill development; it fosters teamwork, confidence, discipline, focus, and camaraderie. The progress these young athletes have made is incredible," said Haley Ellison, of Three Peaks Marketing, who manages the Bandits website, tournament marketing, and fundraiser advertising. Her husband Jason coaches their son Austin's 10U team.

"Volunteer support is key for youth sports, especially in a small town like Sisters. Without the help of individuals, the community, and local sponsors, our programs wouldn't thrive."

Tournaments cost $700 to $900 apiece just to enter, not including travel and lodging expenses, field rentals, baseball gear, the uniforms ...

"Everything is very expensive, so we do a number of fundraisers. Our biggest fundraiser is our First Annual Bandits Golf Scramble this summer, on July 19, where all proceeds are going to go back into the organization to help out with player dues, uniforms, tournaments," Kuitert said. "The more we fundraise, the more sponsors we can get, the less financial burden on parents."

Bandits sponsors include Sisters Fence and Deck and Hoyt's Hardware & Building Supply, and title sponsor Mission 22 has helped a great deal.

"They're very supportive," echoed Tabor's mom, Mylee. "This is the second year that they've given a significant amount of money to help us be able to do what we're able to do."

Mylee Card is a team mom. She helps with social media marketing, brings her food-and-drink cart for concession sales to raise money, and fuels the boys with food.

"If we're in hotels, we usually try and do one dinner out together, and then at campgrounds, even families that aren't camping always come out and we do a big spaghetti feed, taco feed, chili dog feed with all of the leftovers from the concession stand," Mylee said.

All involved are excited for the future of Bandits travel ball and the Sisters Country tournament.

"I'm a baseball mom and I have a 14-year-old kid and he's always gone to Redmond to play on a travel team, so to me, Sisters having this is amazing," Shergold added. "People want to come to Sisters. We had teams from Lake Oswego, Roseburg, Klamath Falls, and Eugene. A Portland team came last year and said, 'Sign us up. We're coming again. We love to come over there.' I've had calls from coaches as far away as Shasta. People want to make it a destination weekend - a fun place to go, not just for the tournament."

The Bandits have one more tournament this year, in Newport. Winter workouts begin in January.

To try out for the team, visit banditssportsclub.com and contact a coach.

To register for the golf scramble at Aspen Lakes Golf Course, visit banditsgolfscramble.splashthat.com.

"To our local community, please come out and support our boys as they continue to shine," Coach Summer said.