Ottawa, ON – Talk about a Cinderella run! It was quite the tournament for the border-town Windsor team as they won three extra-inning games just to make it to the final, and then stunned BC with their first loss to win the Senior Men’s tournament.
Meanwhile with the younger group in Spruce Grove, BC remained undefeated as rolled through their tournament on their way to winning Gold. No other team was really close to BC, as they inserted their dominance from start to finish.
13U Peewee Western
Gold Medal Game
British Columbia 13 Regina (SK2) 3
Travis Selje (Surrey, BC) got things going in the first inning driving in the first of three runs as BC made quick work of Regina to win the 2013 13U Peewee Western Championship. The win capped off an undefeated tournament for BC who, from start to finish, showed that they were the best team.
To be successful in any event, especially in team sports, you need your best players to be your best players, and that’s exactly what happened for BC. Selje, clean-up hitter Jackson Hogg (Surrey, BC) and number five hitter Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC) combined for eight hits, eight RBI and six runs scored in the win. Leadoff hitter Liam Vulcano (Surrey, BC) also contributed with two hits and two runs scored.
BC has now won back-to-back 13U championships as they also won it all in 2012, and they will look to make it a three-peat in 2014.
Bronze Medal Game
South Central (MB1) 3 Spruce Grove 0
Noah Geekie (Strathclair, MB) made sure his team was not going home empty handed, as his team would take Bronze with a 3-0 shutout victory. He would pitch all seven innings and strikeout ten batters. Any trouble that he did get in, he relied on his defense and pure talent to get out of a tough situation.
Jared McCorrister (Boissevain, MB) and Carter Wall (Winkler, MB) each picked up a RBI while Tristan Peters (Winkler, MB) scored twice. Laron Smith went 2/3 in the loss for Spruce Grove.
Senior Men
Gold Medal Game
Windsor 3 British Columbia 1
Timely hitting and timely pitching was the theme of the tournament for Windsor, and they continued it right through this game as they defeated British Columbia 3-1 to win the 2013 Senior Men’s Championships on home soil. The team got better with every game they played, and then they seized their moment.
After a thrilling win earlier in the day Windsor continued its momentum to score the game’s first three runs, and then they let their pitching and defense do the rest of the work. John Picco (Woodslee, ON) went the first three innings, and then Zach Breault (Amherstburg, ON) dominated the rest of the way with four hitless innings. Thomas Grubb (Wheatley, ON) had two hits (one home run) and a RBI Bryan Dufour (Lasalle, ON) also picked up a RBI double in the win.
It marks the second year in a row that the host team has won this tournament. Price George won it all last year by defeating Ontario.
Bronze Medal
Ontario 10 Manitoba 6
Sean Bignall (Brampton, ON) hit for the cycle as Ontario avenged a heartbreaking semi-final loss by picking up the Bronze medal. Bignall was outstanding going 4/4 while driving in three runs and scoring three times on his own. Jerome Smith (Mississauga, ON) also picked up two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored. For Manitoba, Jesse Bartle (Brandon, MB) had three hits and two runs scored in the loss.
Semi-final #1
Windsor 3 Ontario 2 (10 innings)
Windsor had another trick left in the hat as they won yet another extra-inning game to shock Ontario and advance to the Gold medal game. Andrew Mosojc (Tecumseh, ON) scored the game-winning run in the top of the tenth, and starter Steve Teno (Windsor, ON) closed the game out in the bottom half. Teno was locked in throughout the entire game, going all ten innings and striking out an astounding fourteen different batters.
Semi-final #2
British Columbia 1 Manitoba 0
Jesse Peters (Surrey, BC) singled home Scott Webster (Burnaby, BC) as BC won in walk-off fashion to send themselves to the Gold medal game. It was a pitchers’ duel throughout the game, but it was Jordan Broatch (White Rock, BC) who came out on top after Shane Kraemer (Chilliwack, BC) threw six scoreless innings. Anthony Friesen (Pilot Mound, MB) was outstanding in his own right, pitching into the ninth inning while only giving up four hits total.
