OTTAWA- Round-robin games concluded at all three National Championships on Saturday which also saw some quarter-final games played.
Senior Men
New Brunswick earned a date with BC in the semi-finals when they topped Windsor (Onatrio-2) 3-1 in the first quarter-final game at the Senior Men’s championship in Dartmouth, NS. All of New Brunswick’s runs came in the 4th inning, two of which were unearned. Things got started when John Burns (Fredericton, ON) hit an RBI double to break the scoreless tie. Windsor got on the board in the 5th to cut the lead to two, but that’s as close as they would get. Shawn O’toole (Saint John, NB) pitched 6 2/3 innings and struck out six to earn the win while Ben Higgins (Moncton, NB) struck out the final batter of the game to record the save.
Manitoba booked their ticket the semi’s with a convincing 6-2 win over Red Deer (Alberta-1). Manitoba rode the right arm of Justin Funk (Brandon, MB) who provided 5 1/3 innings of solid work on the mound that saw him give up two runs, scatter five hits and strikeout nine to record the win. With Manitoba holding a slight 2-1 lead they struck for four runs in the top of the 6th inning. With the score 3-1 Kevin McNeill (Carberry, MB) hammered a three-run homer to give his mates a four run cushion. Red Deer would score one run in the bottom of the frame, but that’s as close as they would get as Manitoba shut them down the rest of the way. Manitoba will now face the host Dartmouth club in the other semi-final.
In earlier round-robin games, Windsor (Onatrio-2) scored eight runs in the bottom of the 7th to defeat Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta-2) 14-12. The final blow was delivered by Justin Pennell (Toronto, ON) who hit a walk-off grand slam to end the game.
BC pounded Nova Scotia 13-5 which saw their offence record fourteen hits. Brian Briscoe (North Vancouver, BC) and Devon Franklin (Delta, BC) each had two hits and two RBI. Corey Stang (Surrey, BC) contributed three RBI.
Dartmouth earned a bye directly to the semi-finals when the handily defeated Newfoundland 7-1. Craig Langille (Bedford, NS) went the distance on the mound and struck out seven batters. Darren Doucette (Dartmouth, NS), Greg West (Dartmouth, NS) and Matt Thomas (Dartmouth, NS) all homered in the game for Dartmouth.
Mike Ronnie (Red Deer, AB) and Jaret Chatwood (Red Deer, AB) each had three hits and an RBI as Red Deer (Alberta-2) easily defeated New Brunswick 13-7.
Manitoba scored two runs in the bottom of the 7th to come from behind and edge Windsor (Ontario-2) 6-5. Jason Rae (Brandon, MB) scored the winning run on an error in the Windsor outfield.
Ilderton (Ontario-1) recorded their first win of the tournament when they beat Nova Scotia 5-2. Kevin Annett (London, ON) and Bob Grant (Lucan, ON) led the offence for Ilderton with two hits and an RBI apiece.
Bantam Girls
Down by six runs in the 5th inning, Nova Scotia came all the way back to defeat Saskatchewan at the Bantam Girls championship in Richmond, BC. Nova Scotia scored all of their runs in the 5th without recording a hit as Saskatchewan committed five errors. Teneal Perry (Prospect, NS) had one hit and a RBI at the plate for Nova Scotia while Amelie Savoie (Tracadie, NB) was awarded the win as she struck out two batters. Nova Scotia would go one to score a run in the 6th and tack on another three runs in the 7th to complete the comeback. Saskatchewan had some excellent individual performances as Eliah Bedwell (Langenburg, SK), Janelle Wiebe (Nipawin, SK) and Lauren Leshchyshyn (Yorkton, SK) all had multi-hit games while Bedwell also struck out eight batters on the mound.
Nova Scotia didn’t have the same luck earlier in the day as they were defeated by BC 18-4. Avery Hutton (North Vancouver, BC) had three hits and two RBI while Tamara Derby (Coquitlam, BC) struck out seven in picking up the win for BC.
Katie Hauck (Bolton, ON) had a great game at the plate going 3-for-4 with four RBI as her Ontario team defeated Alberta 7-1. Britt Chan (Richmond Hill, ON) had six strikeouts to earn the win on the mound.
Québec was all over host Richmond as they led all game and won 17-2. The game was limited to 5 innings because of the mercy rule. Gabrielle Demers (Gatineau, QC) led the way for Québec offensively going 3-for-5 with three RBI. Four Québec pitchers combined to limit Richmond to only three hits.
Bantam Boys
In a thrilling quarter-final game, Ontario struck for two runs in the bottom of the 7th to nip Alberta 8-7 at the Bantam Boys championship in Vaughan, ON. Logan Stewart (Lindsay, ON) was the hero as his base-hit scored the tying and winning runs for Ontario. To that point Alberta was leading thanks to a seven-run 3rd inning where they scored all of their runs. Brayden Munro (Okotoks, AB) highlighted all the scoring in the 3rd with a bases loaded double that cleared the bases. Jake Lumley (Windsor, ON) came on in relief of Ontario starter Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, ON) in the 4th and shut the door the rest of the way to earn the victory. Lumley gave up one hit and struck out eight. Ontario will now face Vaughan in the semi-finals.
The other quarter-final saw Saskatchewan cruise to a 7-3 win over Nova Scotia setting up a semi-final match with BC. Down 2-1 in the 3rd inning, Saskatchewan would plate six runs to take a lead they would never give up. The highlight of the inning was an Emery Anderson (Regina, SK) two-run single to give Saskatchewan the lead. From there the game was in the hands of Bryce Crosbie (Moose Jaw, SK) who pitched 5 1/3 innings to get the win. Ben Meade (Cole Harbour, NS) had three hits and RBI in a losing cause for Nova Scotia.
In round-robin games, Connor Noble (Vancouver, BC) had a dominant performance on the mound as BC beat Ontario 8-2. Noble went the distance and struck out twelve for BC.
Nova Scotia barely edged Manitoba 7-6 in a very close contest. Jordan Crawley (East Preston, NS) had three hits and two RBI for Nova Scotia while Derek Millar (Oak Bluff, MB) had two hits and two RBI for Manitoba.
In a wild one, Alberta broke a 9-9 tie in the bottom of the 7th to beat Québec 10-9. Roberto Valdez (Chestermere, AB) struck out four on the mound and also picked up a hit and two RBI to lead Alberta to victory. Québec’s Vincent Dion (Terrebonne, QC) was 3-for-3 with two RBI.
Daniel Procopio (Etobicoke, ON) hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 7th to score Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) and give Vaughan a dramatic 16-15 win over New Brunswick. Vaughan’s Shayne Rajadurai (Oak Ridge, ON) and New Brunswick’s Austin McIntyre (Chatham, NB) each had four RBI in the game.
Thomas Joseph Baker (Acton, ON) was 2-for-4 with two RBI as Ontario beat Newfoundland 12-2 in a shortened mercy rule game.
The trend of wild, high scoring games continued as Saskatchewan got by PEI 14-12 in the final round-robin game. Jordan Schultz (Strasbourg, SK) led the way for Saskatchewan with two hits and five RBI. Tyler Arsenault (Summerside, PEI) led the way for his team collecting two hits and three RBI.
Notes: Catch all of the playoff action on Sunday by following the games live via Pointstreak, please visit: http://baseballcanada.bbstats.pointstreak.com/scoreboard.html?leagueid=110&seasonid=373
