OTTAWA – The boys and girls bantam championships have officially begun and will last through the weekend into Sunday. The boys tournament will see an action-filled day of baseball as a total of ten games are scheduled to be played; meanwhile over on the girls side, only four games are scheduled.
The following is a recap of the complete games so far:
Bantam Boys Championship
Vaughan 12 Newfoundland and Labrador 1
The host team from Vaughan opened the floodgates with a seven run outburst in the third and fourth innings to sail past Newfoundland and Labrador in a mercy-shortened six inning game. First baseman Ryan Rijo (Barrie, ON) led his team with two RBI, and starting pitcher Matthew Bondy (Windsor, ON) picked up the win on the mound.
Alberta 8 Saskatchewan 1
Alberta took advantage of six Saskatchewan errors en route to the seven run victory. Austin Ely (Calgary, AB) was an offensive force with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored, and pitcher Kurtis Call (Calgary, AB) pitched six effective innings for the win.
Manitoba 12 New Brunswick 6
Tied 6-6 heading into extra innings, Manitoba cranked up the offense by plating six runs in the top of the eighth inning to steal the victory over New Brunswick. Catcher Riley Pool (Oak Bluff, MB) reached base a game high five times in the game and scored twice while also chipping in with two RBI. However, second baseman Christian Peters outdueled his teammate with three RBI and three runs scored. New Brunswick’s Blake Gallagher (Waasis, NB) had three hits for his club.
Ontario 4 Nova Scotia 1
Ontario scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tied and then held on for the 4-1 victory. Jake Medeiros (Oakville, ON) led the way offensively with two RBI while Jade Salmon-Williams (Brampton, ON) picked up the save with three strikeouts in his one inning of work.
Bantam Girls Championship
Ontario opened up the tournament with a thrilling extra innings victory over the USA-based Chicago Pioneers. Chelsea Hickey (Kingsville, ON) scored the winning run while Lindsay Wilcox (Waterdown, ON) added some insurance and then they shut down the Chicago team in the bottom half to earn the win. Wilcox also chipped in with two hits and a RBI.
BC 13 Alberta 1
BC scored seven runs in the fifth inning to quickly defeat Alberta in the mercy-shortened game. Jayme Young (Cloverdale, ON) had a strong offensive game, contributing with two hits, two RBI and three runs scored. She also pitched extremely well on the mound over three innings of work, striking out eight batters and walking none.
Note: Live streaming of the Bantam Girls games can be found at the bottom of the Baseball Canada homepage by clicking on the following link. For in-game stats and related information, please follow Pointstreak. Please also visit Pointstreak for the latest game updates on the bantam boys tournament.
