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OTTAWA- Three Gold Medal winners were determined at National Championships today in Dartmouth (Nova Scotia), Vaughan (Ontario) and Richmond (BC).

Bantam Boys

Host, Vaughan, capped off an unbelievable tournament in which they went undefeated by hammering Saskatchewan in the Gold Medal game 18-2. Vaughan was in complete control from the get-go as they scored ten runs in the bottom of the 1^st followed by five more runs in the 2^nd inning to put the game out of hand. Daniel Procopio (Etobicoke, ON) who had excellent tournament at the plate delivered again in the 1^st inning with a two-run triple. Justin Orton (Windsor, ON) also had a two-run single in the 1^st which was part of a three RBI day for him. On the mound, Christian Botter (Maple, ON) received more than enough offence and did his part by tossing five innings of six hit ball, walking nobody and striking out six. In the 5^th inning with two out, Botter recorded the final out by covering first on a ball hit to the first baseman to give Vaughan the victory on the count of the mercy rule.

In the Bronze Medal game Ontario received a great pitching performance from John Daniel Osborne (Whitby, ON) to beat BC 7-3. Osborne went 5 1/3 innings, gave-up three runs on six hits and struck out eight. Ontario got on the board with four runs in the 1^st inning and didn’t look back as they claimed the Bronze Medal.

A great story of the day occurred in a semi-final game where Saskatchewan’s Jeremy Sylvester (Grand Coulee, SK) didn’t give up a hit through 6 2/3 innings, but was forced to leave the game because of pitch-count rules. Sylvester allowed two walks and struck out ten as Saskatchewan upset BC 3-0. Nathan Haroldson (Regina, SK) relieved Sylvester and gave up a hit to the first batter he faced before retiring the next batter to end the game.

The other semi-final featured the battle of Ontario with Vaughan coming out on top over Ontario 10-8. Owen Spiwak (Mississauga, ON) picked up the win, struck out nine and contributed two hits at the plate to lead his team to the Gold Medal game.

New Brunswick won the 9^th place game easily by beating Newfoundland 10-0. In the 7^th place game Québec was all over Manitoba 7-1 and in the 5^th place game Alberta edged Nova Scotia 3-2.

Senior Men

BC spoiled the party as the blanked the host Dartmouth club 1-0 at the Senior Men’s championship in Dartmouth, NS. A pitcher’s duel between Dartmouth’s Merek Deska (Toronto, ON) and BC’s Steve McCrea (Coquitlam, BC) ensued that saw only six hits in total during the game. The lone run came in the 4^th inning when Kevin Atkinson (Surrey, BC) belted a 2-2 pitch out of the ball park for a solo homerun. McCrea was virtually perfect the rest of the way as he only allowed one base runner in his last three innings of work, which came on a walk. Dartmouth’s best chance to score came in the 1^st inning when they had runners on first and second with two out but were unable to advance them any further.

The Bronze Medal match was also a pitcher’s duel that needed extra innings to decide the game. The game was scoreless through seven innings when New Brunswick’s Greg Hallett (Fredericton, NB) doubled to bring in the game’s first run. Later in the inning, a Derek Wilson (Fredericton, NB) single gave New Brunswick a two run cushion. In the bottom of the 8^th Manitoba was able to score one run, but that’s as close as they would get as New Brunswick took the Bronze by a 2-1 score. Steve McCarty (Fredericton, NB) pitched all eight innings and only gave up two hits to record the win.

In earlier semi-final’s Dartmouth received three homeruns as the pounded Manitoba 12-0 and BC hit two homeruns as they beat New Brunswick 6-2.

Bantam Girls

Two undefeated teams met for the Gold Medal at the Bantam Girl’s championship in Richmond, BC. The game proved to be a dandy as BC held off a furious Ontario comeback in the bottom of the 7^th to win the Gold Medal game 5-4. BC took a 3-1 lead in the 4^th with a three run inning. Jacklyn Smith (Surrey, BC) got things going by hitting into a fielder’s choice that plated the first run of the game for BC. After scoring two more runs in the inning BC would strike again in the 7^th for two more runs. With the score 5-1 and Ontario down to their last at-bat, they decided to make things interesting as they came oh-so-close to tying the game. Katie Hauck (Bolton, ON) scored Ashley Flemington (Burlington, ON) from third base and Larissa Pattison (Hamilton, ON) hit a two-out, two-run single to bring her team with one. With the game on the line however, Faythe Lou (Surrey, BC) retired the final batter to sent BC home as the champions.

Québec took the Bronze Medal in convincing fashion as they beat Nova Scotia 14-2. Maude Coulombe (Gatineau, QC) was the offensive hero as she had three hits, scored two runs and had four RBI. On the mound, Lianne Crete (Gatineau, QC) pitched four solid innings and struck out seven to earn the win.

Ranya Miller (Calgary, AB) was 4-for-4 with two RBI as Alberta beat Saskatchewan 8-5 in the 5^th place game. Vanessa Lindsay (Calgary, AB) threw two innings to pick up the win for Alberta. Lacey Jurke (Maidstone, SK) had eight strikeouts in a losing cause for Saskatchewan.

In the semi-final games Ontario hammered Nova Scotia 14-1 and BC beat Québec 7-2. Holly Ferrell (Brantford, ON) was the winning pitcher for Ontario while Maryse Garcia (Surrey, BC) tossed the win for BC.

Notes: One more Baseball Canada National Championship will take place next month as the Peewee Atlantic championship will hit Summerside, PEI from September 9^th-12^th.