Sep 07, 2016 | jrolph | 1644 views
Wolfe Flooring Mosquito's bring home the OBA Championship!
The
Wolfe Flooring Mosquito OBA team travelled to Kingsville during Labour Day
weekend to take part in the Ontario Baseball Association Championship. The locals started the double knockout format
tournament on Friday night as they drew the team from Thorold to get things
underway.
The game started out slow offensively for Mitchell as after three complete innings Mitchell carried a 3-0 score moving forward. Mitchell was able to jump start the offence the rest of the way cruising to an 11-1 final with Kale Murray getting the win on the mound striking out five and scattering four hits in four innings of work. Josh French came into the game in relief in the final inning and did not allow a hit. Cole Hannon, Ryan Middegaal and Talbot Geiger all managed two hits in the win.
Saturday morning Mitchell faced Dresden who had also won their first game of the tournament Friday night. Again, the Mitchell team took some time to get things going as after three innings the locals hung on to a slim 4-3 lead heading to the fourth inning. In the fifth Mitchell exploded for 9 runs and never looked back winning 14-3 and sending them into Saturday afternoon unbeaten. Dawson Dietz and Will Korver pitched well and kept the locals in the game early. Justin Morrison and Owen Shore each had a pair of hits and scored twice and Jarrett Van Bakel tallied three hits in the win.
Saturday afternoon the fellas faced the defending champs in Woodslee to see who would go into Saturday night undefeated. The game was tight into the fourth inning as Woodslee would find themselves ahead of the locals 4-2. The fourth and fifth inning brought some trouble to Mitchell as they allowed 9 runs combined in those two innings and suffered their first loss of the tournament 13-3. Luke Murray and Talbot Geiger combined in the pitching duties and Dawson Dietz collecting a pair of hits in the loss.
Saturday night, Mitchell would face Woodstock to end the day and a win would advance the locals into Sunday. Mitchell scored early and often in this game, cruising to a 15-1 win and pushing Mitchell into Sunday of the tournament. Owen Shore and Dietz kept Woodstock’s bats quiet on the mound and Josh French, Danny Van Straaten, Kale and Luke Murray all had 2 RBI’s in the victory.
Sunday morning Mitchell would face Kincardine, with the winner of this game advancing to the finals Sunday afternoon. The boys scored quickly plating 4 runs in the first inning and carried the momentum the rest of the way with a 12-0 win and advancing to the finals. Will Korver pitched a gem in this one only needing 40 pitches to record the victory backed by an errorless game defensively behind him. Jarrett Van Bakel, Korver, Shore and Morrison collecting two hits in the win.
In the finals Mitchell would face Woodslee again looking to redeem themselves, needing to beat Woodslee twice to claim the championship. Will Korver started the game and continued his great pitching leaving the game with a 5-3 lead over Woodslee in the fourth inning. Kale Murray came on in relief and Mitchell’s defense was able to hold Woodslee off for an 8-7 victory forcing a deciding game later that afternoon. Cole Hannon and Ryan Middegaal each with a hit in the victory and Korver and Murray combined for 6 strikeouts and scattering 9 hits in the win.
With the win, Mitchell would play Woodslee again in the Championship game an hour later to decide who would be taking home the trophy and rings. In the championship game the locals got off to probably the worst start possible finding themselves down 5-0 after the first inning, then it got worse as Woodslee carried a 9-2 lead into the third inning. In Mitchell’s half of the third inning they were able to start chipping away at the lead as they plated 3 runs to cut the lead to a manageable 9-5 deficit. As each inning passed, the locals drew closer backed by a great pitching performance by Owen Shore holding Woodslee to a run from the third inning. The fourth, fifth and sixth innings were good offensively for the boys as 8 runs crossed for Mitchell and they carried a 13-10 lead into the seventh, clawing all the way back from a 7 run deficit. In the top half of the seventh Woodslee scored two of their own to draw within one run of the locals with the bases loaded and one out. Dawson Dietz was called to come in and shut the door on Woodslee to give the locals a chance in their half of the seventh. Dietz was definitely up to the task only allowing one run in a tough jam, sending Mitchell to their half of the seventh tied at 13. In the Mitchell’s half of the seventh Luke Murray was on first, then a walk to Josh French and Danny Van Straaten being hit by a pitch loaded the bases with two out for Talbot Geiger. With everyone standing in both benches, the Woodslee pitcher threw one in the dirt sending the ball to screen behind home plate on the first pitch to Geiger. Murray took off from third with the ball at the screen and plated the winning run to claim the OBA championship for Mitchell since 1999 and sent the entire bench onto the field and littered the sky with batting helmets, gloves and ball caps as the boys threw everything into the air in celebration. The championship win capped off a great year for the Wolfe Flooring Mosquito OBA team finishing with a 31-9-1 record.
Article Courtesy of Jason Murray