18U OBA (Sponsored by Superior Sealers) | Aug 06, 2025 | Trevor Russwurm | 191 views
18U OBA Team Qualifies for OBA 'C' Provincial Championships
The Mitchell Superior Sealers 18U OBA Astros have qualified to participate in the OBA 18U 'C' Provincial Championships being held August 15-17th in Essex, ON. Along with Listowel & Exeter, Mitchell will be one of three teams from the WOBA in attendance.
A total of seven 18U OBA teams within WOBA that classified to attending OBA Provincials were scheduled into a bracket format double-knockout tournament, with draws to be made each round to determine home teams.
Mitchell drew a road game vs Flesherton Rangers 18U, travelling there on July 15th and returning home with a 7-2 victory. Ryan Hubbard went the distance on the mound for the Astros. After a scoreless opening two innings, the locals grabbed the lead in the top of the third on Ethan Jarmuth's 2-run triple. Jarmuth was then driven in by Keegan Priestap to take a 3-0 lead. The Astros would add two more runs in the 4th to open up a 5-0 lead that they would never give up. Jarmuth led Mitchell with 4 RBI's, and Charlie Wolfe & Jarmuth each collected two hits.
Round two was hosted by Mitchell on July 21st, with the Kincardine Cardinals coming to town. Hubbard would again start, this time maxing out his pitch count before giving way to Ethan Blake to finish up an 8-2 victory.
Game three was hosted by Exeter on July 25th, with Mitchell needing a win to secure a spot in the OBA Provincials tournament. Starter Keegan Priestap went 6 innings, giving up 2 earned runs with 5 strikeouts to earn the win. Joel Meinen finished up in a one-inning relief, striking out the side. Blake's RBI groundout in the first inning put the Astros on the board, but Exeter would tie the game 2-2 in the bottom of the third. Mitchell would retake the lead again in the fourth, as Payton Wood stroked a bases-clearing double for a 5-2 lead. An insurance run would be added in the top of the sixth on an RBI double by Landon Van Bakel, scoring Blake.
A fourth game was needed to be played to help decide the additional teams to qualify, and Mitchell would host Listowel on July 30th. Legionnaires started Joel Feeney shut the Astros down, throwing a complete game 3-0 shutout victory. Hubbard scattered seven hits over seven innings for Mitchell, striking out eight and walking one.
The locals would threaten with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, as Hubbard doubled followed by consecutive walks by Ryan Klumper and Priestap, but could not cash any runs in.
Mitchell will open tournament play at 11am on Friday August 15th in Leamington vs either Wyoming or Dresden, not yet announced.