News and Announcements
To view the stories regarding OBAs, please visit the "OBAs" page. Coaches of champions and finalists, please submit your stories to Diane for posting.
Senior Rookie 'A' - Silver - Southwest London
Senior Rookie 'B' - Gold - St. Thomas
Minor Mosquito 'A' - Gold - North London
Minor Mosquito 'A' - Silver - St. Thomas - story posted
Minor PeeWee 'A' - Silver - Delaware - story posted
Bantam 'B' - Gold - St. Thomas
Midget 'B' - Gold - St. Thomas - story posted
Junior 'B' - Gold - Ilderton - story posted
Junior 'C' - Gold - Southwest London - story posted
ST. THOMAS WINS SILVER AT MINOR MOSQUITO 'A' OBAs
Cardinals take fans on thrill ride
Posted By Rob Ross, TIMES-JOURNAL STAFF
It will be a weekend to remember for two of the top teams their age in Ontario. The North London Nationals captured the Ontario Baseball Association minor mosquito A championship by beating the St. Thomas Optimist Cardinals 9-4 Sunday in the final at the Douglas J. Tarry Sports Complex.
"To cap a great year with a OBA championship game, I'm very proud of the boys," Cardinals manager Derek Brooks said. "The guys showed a lot of character all weekend." Twice St. Thomas rallied in the seventh inning for victories, including their semifinal against Richmond Hill, when Brendan Echlin punched out a walk-off single to score a jubilant Oliver Piotrowski. St. Thomas may have been done in by the OBA pitch count rule which limits each pitcher to a certain amount of pitches thrown per game as well as overall during the tournament. "Pitching made a difference. Our philosophy all weekend was we weren't planning for the next game with our pitchers," Brooks said. "We didn't want to be thinking about the next game because you have to win a game to get to it." Twice St. Thomas pitchers had to exit the game after reaching the maximum. "All the pitchers we used were on limited pitches. We used every single pitch that they had," Brooks said. North London manager Greg Keyes acknowledged St. Thomas losing pitching was a factor. "The pitch count is so critical and it's important how you work your pitchers," said Keyes. "In the last game it worked out in our favour." Three consecutive singles to lead off the the Nationals' fourth inning resulted in three runs and broke a 3-3 tie. That outburst, and an game-ending injury to McDonald, hurt the Cardinals. Pitchers Jordan Ellis and Alex Lamont kept St. Thomas off balance and combined to strike out 12 Cards. On the other side, four of the Nationals who reached base on balls, scored. St. Thomas led 2-0 after one inning on an Echlin single and a ground out by Griffin Luce. North London tied the game an inning later. In the fourth, the Cardinals pushed ahead 3-2 on a Justin McDonald RBI single that scored Luce, who had tripled. North London took control with three runs in each of the fourth and seventh innings. Nicholas Medeiros knocked in the final St. Thomas run on a sacrifice fly to score Trevor Ross. Spencer Bak went 2-for-2 with one base on balls and two RBIs for the Nationals, while Matt Gibson had a pair of RBI singles. St. Thomas defeated Niagara Falls 20-6, Guelph 16-3 and Peterborough 6-3 to advance to the game of the undefeated teams. Michael Mommersteeg had a two-run homer against Guelph. Luce batted 3-for-3 against Niagara, while Jakob Rick scored four runs after reaching base on three walks and an error. Trailing 3-2 after six innings, Luce and Echlin each had RBI singles as St. Thomas scored four times in the seventh to beat Peterborough. A three-run fifth inning lifted the Cardinals over North London 6-5 Saturday night, leaving them as the only undefeated team among five clubs heading in to action Sunday. Delaware stung the Cardinals 17-10, denying the home team a direct route to the final. In the semifinals, St. Thomas regrouped and then rallied to score a run in the bottom of each of the sixth and seventh innings to edge Richmond Hill 3-2. Nicholas Medeiros tied the game on a sacrifice fly, before Echlin sent the Cardinals to the final. North London disposed of Delaware in their semifinal. "I've never seen the boys as happy and as focused as they were all weekend," said Brooks. "One thing we struggled with this season was stringing a few wins together, so to be able to win the number of games we won this weekend is an accomplishment." North London took both the London and District Baseball Association pennant and playoff titles. "We've had an incredible year," said Keyes. "The kids have worked extremely hard and we focused on a couple of things and having fun was one." The LDBA had four of the final five teams, including North London, St. Thomas, Oakridge and Delaware.SOUTHWEST WINS GOLD AT JUNIOR 'C' OBAS
Southwest Juniors come together when it counts.
The Southwest Juniors participated in the Junior “C” Ontario Baseball Championships in Stratford. After spending the entire season battling various injuries and illness to key players and coaches, the team was finally healthy and ready to compete.
Southwest drew the Stratford Juniors in their first game and sent staff ace Brandan Farquhar to the hill. Farquhar’s calm and cool demeanor on the hill helped the team out as they were able to relax and not put too much pressure on themselves which led the Southwest Juniors to an 8-4 win. Farquhar pitched an impressive complete game striking out 10 Stratford batters. Offensively, leadoff sparkplug Chris DeVito forced the Stratford pitcher deep into counts every at bat and reached base 4 times scoring 3 runs. Darren Boyce was his usual 2 for 3 with 3 very big RBI’s.
In Game 2 the Southwest Juniors faced a powerful Georgetown team. In a game that can only be described as a nail biter, the Southwest Juniors again prevailed with a 10-9 win. The game see-sawed back and forth as Southwest went up 3-2, 5-4, trailed 7-5, then went up 8-7 when tournament MVP Chris Stewart blasted a 2 out 3 run home run. Southwest went up 10-7 in the top of the 7th only to give 2 back in the bottom of the 7th with no one out. Nathan Naylor, who had battled the Georgetown hitters all day, remained calm when Georgetown had the tying run on 3rd base with no one out. After getting the first batter out, Naylor made a spectacular stab off the mound that the runner was not expecting. With the runner frozen like a deer in headlights, Naylor chased him right into and out at the plate. Sealing the deal, Naylor finished the game off getting an easy ground ball to end the game. The offence was again led by Darren Boyce who was 4/5 with 2 RBI. Brant Cormier came off the bench to provide the spark the team needed as he smacked the ball all over the field to the tune of 3 hits. The at bat of the game went to shortstop Steve Truax who, after hitting a rocket of an out in his previous at bat, came through with a double that scored 2 very big runs. Thanks to the luck of the draw, the Southwest Juniors were off to the finals Sunday where they were certain they would be facing Georgetown in a rematch of the afternoon’s battle.
Sunday morning Southwest again matched up against Georgetown with the knowledge Georgetown would have to be beat them two times. Needing a pitcher to step up in game 3, the coaching staff turned to unsung hero Colin Noble to get Southwest through as much of the game as he could. Fortunately, Noble was able to relax as Southwest scored 5 runs in the first inning, shocking Georgetown. The highlight of the first inning was Rob Wydeven “getting lost” between first and second which allowed Steve Truax to scramble home from 3rd with the 5th run of the inning. Noble managed to battle through 3 innings, giving way to Mitch Iredale who provided just what the doctor ordered. Iredale provided a key hit offensively and fought through an inning and half which saved the arm of Nathan Naylor, who was forced into duty after throwing 5 innings the previous day. The offence put pressure on Georgetown every inning including a double by Midget aged CF Mike McGrath who spent the whole year starting in CF and playing world class defense. Brant Cormier came through again going 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s. Chris Stewart proved again why he was not only the tournament MVP but the team MVP of the season going 3 for 4. The Southwest Juniors, in control from the start, beat Georgetown 11-4.
Not to be overlooked, exhausted and injured catcher Kevin Musty stepped up as the leader he is, catching in every game in the heat and coming through with big hits and great bunts whenever he was asked. The coaches would like to thank all those who stuck it out through a very tough year only to come through when it counts and show the true leaders these young men are.
Team members include: Chris DeVito, Chris Stewart, Darren Boyce, Shane “wrong way” Ely, Kevin Musty, Mike McGrath, Mark McLean, Brandan Farquhar, Mitch Iredale, Colin Noble, Steve Truax, Rob Wydeven, Brant Cormier, Nathan Naylor. The coaching staff was comprised of coach Andrew Mann, manager Bob Boyce, coach Lou Lenehan, and Tyler Ullerick.
Midget 3 East
Pennant Champions - Ingersoll Cardinals
Playoff Champions - POW Cardinals
Playoff Finalists - Ingersoll Cardinals
Midget 3 West
Pennant Champions - Delaware
Playoff Champions - Delaware
Playoff Finalists - St. Thomas Union
Pennant Champions - Oakridge
Playoff Champions - St. Thomas
Playoff Finalists - Ingersoll
