The Cochrane Toros made their premiere in the Calgary North Baseball League (CNBL) last weekend and proved they belonged with a convincing 11-2 win over CalWest.

Many of the players forming the team had one year remaining in senior ball, but the team opted to make the move to take on the challenges of stiffer competition and to leave the door open for the core players to remain together for two more years. It also opens the door to other Cochrane ball players coming through the ranks to continue ball after Little League.

The Cochrane Toros kicked off their season with a convincing win.Head coach Paul Vaillancourt says the league was a natural fit for the team, whose core has been together since they started to play the sport at a younger age. Whether it's hockey, football or basketball, many of the players are multi-sport athletes and coming together to play ball is something they enjoy. They're also good at it, winning three champions in five years.

"They've all gone their different ways in sports, but come back together for ball," says Vaillancourt. "It's a great group of players and the coaches have been together for years."

In their last year as a senior Crush team, they won their division in District 3 Little League and went on to play in the provincials.

"These guys know each other. They really enjoyed playing ball together, they know our style of coaching, so we just picked up where we left off."

The CNBL was formed in 2017 by Baseball Alberta to give youth a place to continue ball after finishing Little League. It's primarily a league for 17-18-year-olds but teams are allowed to add some over-aged players up to 21 years of age.

Formed primarily of 15 and 16-year-olds, the Toros are the youngest team in the league. Vaillancourt, however, hopes it gives them a place to play together at least until the end of high school. He also sees it as a way to open the door for future Cochrane players looking to continue the sport.

"It's the future because next year there will be one more team from Cochrane and then two years from now they'll be two more teams."

The Toros only have three home games in Cochrane at the Rodeo South diamond this season. Their next game is Thursday in Bow Ridge.

The regular season continues until about mid-June before the post-season kicks off.