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By CASEY GEORGE, Bath Elementary School

Bath Elementary’s boys and girls basketball teams captured titles in the first Bath Invitational Tournament.

The tournament, held Nov. 13-15, featured four teams with players who are in the sixth through eighth grades. The four teams were from Bath Elementary, Mattamuskeet School, Pocosin Charter and Pungo Christian Academy.

On Wednesday in the girls’ tournament, Bath came out on top in the first game against the Mattamuskeet Lady Lakers, 32-11.  In the night’s second game, the PCA Lady Raiders triumphed over the Pocosin Lady Lions, 14-8. The two winners, the Lady Pirates and the Lady Raiders met Friday in the championship game, Bath Girls’ Coach Tony Mirabella guided the Lady Pirates to victory over the PCA Lady Raiders, 31-15.

The boys’ tournament kicked off on Thursday, with the Pirates beating Pocosin, 57-7. The next game was a back-and-forth battle between the PCA Raiders and Mattamuskeet Lakers, coming down to the final minute of play. Ultimately, the Lakers prevailed over the Raiders, 22-19, earning a spot in the championship game.

However, late Thursday, the Lakers informed tournament organizers they would be unable to play Friday due to an unexpected school closure. PCA Boys Coach Glenn Crocker agreed to have his team play the Pirates in the tournament’s final game. As a result, the final day of the tournament featured a doubleheader of the Pirates vs. Raiders.

In the final, the Bath Pirates took on the PCA Raiders and won, 38-7.

“Playing in a tournament after only four practices requires really dialing it in quickly, for our new guys especially,” Bath coach Casey George said. “I think every team in the tournament learned some great early season lessons on how we can improve going forward.”

The Pirates plan to make the Bath Invitational Tournament an early-season annual tradition.