Jul 19, 2015 | wmonden | 995 views
NEVER MESS WITH A BASEBALL SUPERSTITION By: Heather Monden
The
Campbell Insurance Bantam OBA boys’ hardball team spent the weekend playing a
little ball in a tournament hosted by Kincardine. They played three outstanding games to land
themselves in the first seed of the semi-finals on Sunday morning. It’s unknown whether the semi-final defeat
was the result of failing to stay true to the team’s superstitions that they
established that weekend or lack of sleep but, either way, they played their
hearts out in the semis against the competitive Leamington team.
In game 1, Mitchell mercied Clinton 12 to 1. This game took place in Point Clark on Friday night on a diamond surrounded by dense bush. Mitchell lost the coin toss to establish who would be the home team. This was the beginning of a new tournament superstition that, as you will soon learn, should never be messed with.
Judd WALKER set the tone for the night when he took his position in the batter’s box in the first inning, loaded up and crushed the ball over the fence. HOME RUN!! He scored two RBIs on that hit and before the game was over acquired three more RBIs and two more runs.
The entire team was on the sticks this game. Besides WALKER’s three runs, singles were scored by Ryan HARMER, Reid RAMSEYER, Drew MacLEAN, Stephen BIRD and Jackson MacARTHUR. Jake MONDEN and Trevor DIXON scored two runs each. RAMSEYER, DIXON, MacLEAN and James COPELAND each got one RBI, while Curt EIDT drove in three…and of course we haven’t forgotten WALKER’s five. The boys played a phenomenal offensive game.
On the defence, DIXON took to the mound (or pitcher’s rubber as the case may be since there was no mound on this diamond) for the first four innings striking out three batters. COPELAND was the closer for the game and stuck out two batters.
Honourable mention goes to BIRD for his beauty catch in right field. WALKER walked away with the title of “Biggest hitter of the game”. That’s another one of those tournament superstitions that we established last year. Not only does it result in several big hits each game, the winner gets bragging rights and some candy from the treat bag.
In game 2, Mitchell mercied Owen Sound 12 to 2. This game took place in Kincardine on Saturday afternoon. There was a grass infield much like at home, but the backstop was huge. RAMSEYER, who was the catcher for the entire tournament, played like a champion and didn’t let anything past him. Once again, the coach lost the coin toss making us the away-team.
Mitchell was on fire. Everyone hit and everyone got on base. BIRD dominated this game by scoring three runs, followed by COPELAND and MONDEN who each scored two runs and singles were scored by WALKER, DIXON, MacLEAN, EIDT and MacARTHUR. WALKER and COPELAND each got an RBI while HARMER, RAMSEYER, BIRD and EIDT got two RBIs each.
EIDT pitched an incredible game striking out two batters and WALKER came in for the closer; he also got a strike out.
There were only a couple errors all game and, technically, the bright sun was to blame for one of them.
Honourable mention, once again, goes to BIRD. This time it is for his wonderful sliding technique that not only made him safe at both second and home plate, but definitely scared off the other team with his pouncing action and the huge dust storm that erupted around him.
It should be no surprise that BIRD was the recipient of the “Biggest hitter of the game” this time. And, if we had been playing on the smaller Point Clark diamond, his double may very well have been a dinger.
In game 3 Mitchell defeated Kingsville 12 to 6. This game took place under the lights in Kincardine on Saturday night. The grass infield and mound were absent from this diamond changing the dynamics of the game yet again. The backstop was just south of the plate ump making it good for our catcher but not so good for our own boys to steal on a passed ball. This time the coach won the coin toss…but on the advice of the team decided to stick with being the away-team. Are you seeing a pattern here?
Once again Mitchell crushed the ball all game long. We had to work a little harder for this win as Kingsville wanted it just as much as we did and trailed us by only two runs as we entered the sixth and final inning. Single runs were scored by MONDEN, BIRD, COPELAND, EIDT and MacARTHUR. HARMER made it home three times while RAMSEYER and MacLEAN each crossed the plate twice. DIXON, RAMSEYER and BIRD all hit big doubles and RBIs were driven in by WALKER, RAMSEYER, MacLEAN, COPELAND and MacARTHUR. BIRD got two RBIs.
MONDEN pitched over half the game and struck out their biggest hitter at his first at bat. WALKER came in to finish off the game leaving us sitting pretty with all of our pitchers available for the semis except for WALKER.
Honourable mention goes to HARMER for catching three huge fly balls in centre field, EIDT for duping a runner at second and then tagging him out and MacARTHUR for making a breathtaking catch by scooping the ball out of the dirt while playing second. The “Biggest hitter of the game” went to RAMSEYER. His hit bounced and went over the fence for a ground rule double...so close!
Fireworks that were being let off on the Kincardine beach could be seen at the ball park immediately after our game ended. It was like a mini celebration for an amazing two days of ball.
Game 4, our semi-final game against the wildcard team (Leamington), took place on Sunday morning only a few short hours after the conclusion of our Saturday night game. We were back on the hardball diamond with the grass infield and the mound. Everything was going according to plan. The boys were a little tired, but they were keen to continue their winning streak. They did their pregame cheer and run to the foul like just like they do every game. With no time limit and 7 innings ahead of us we had lots of time to get our 12 runs (see the scores of the last three games). But something was off. The team was not getting the consistent hits like they had been. The defence was still there but without the base hits we just couldn’t score any runs. A midgame pickle added some much needed excitement as WALKER had the ball at short with a runner attempting to make it to third. He threw the ball to MacLEAN who chased the runner back to second, tossed the ball to MacARTHUR...the tag was planted and that runner was OUTTA THERE!
DIXON, EIDT and MONDEN all pitched this game. Honourable mention goes to DIXON as he pitched five amazing innings collecting an impressive 8 strikeouts. The “Biggest hit of the game” went to COPELAND for his big hit out to the field.
As you can see, all ten of these talented ball players had an amazing weekend. They all made huge contributions to their three wins and despite the loss in the semi-finals; they all fought hard for that win against the very strong Leamington team.
So what went wrong you ask? I won the coin toss…but I picked home. Never mess with a baseball superstition. Sorry guys…it won’t happen again :)