Sep 08, 2015 | wmonden | 1681 views
BANTAM OBA BOYS MAKE IT TO THE SEMIS By: Heather Monden
The team cooler was stocked
full of ice and water bottles as the Campbell Insurance Bantam boy’s hardball
team made the long journey to Wallaceburg to play their year-end OBA tournament
in the sweltering heat on Labour Day weekend.
Game one was played at 5:30pm on Friday night against Ilderton. They knew this was going to be a tough game and they battled hard to the very end. Curt EIDT pitched phenomenally for the entire game and kept his pitch count under the 90 pitch limit.
The tone of the game was set quickly as the scoreboard did not budge after the first two innings. This nearly error free game was tense and full of excitement. During the 2nd inning, an Ilderton runner successfully stole second base but then, for reasons unknown, he stepped off the bag giving the quick thinking Judd WALKER a perfect opportunity to tag him out! Finally, the scoreboard got some action in the bottom of the 3rd as WALKER and Stephen BIRD both had huge hits earning them each an RBI as their teammates Ryan HARMER and Jake MONDEN shot across home plate giving them a 2 to 0 lead. Ilderton saw our two runs and raised them by two. Mitchell did not respond and lost the lead as the score was then 4 to 2 after the 4th. The 5th was much like the first two innings as Mitchell only allowed three Ilderton batters to play. Next, MONDEN scored another run bridging the gap to a manageable 4 to 3. With two innings still remaining, it was anyone’s game at this point. To the dismay of Mitchell’s fans, Ilderton snagged another run in the 6th, but the boys refused to back down. Jackson MACARTHUR swung the bat hard sending the tiny white ball soaring out to the field, but it unfortunately found its way into the right fielders glove. In the top of the 7th, an Ilderton runner was duped at second base when MONDEN made a fake throw to first rendering this fella helpless as he began his way to 3rd only to be tagged out with the glove that still contained the ball. Ilderton did not acquire anymore runs and the game was nearing the end. Fortunately, Mitchell’s coach won the coin toss making them the home team and giving them the last bat. Two runs would tie up the game and send it into extra innings, but three would end it right here. Sadly, it was not meant to be and the game ended in a respectable 5 to 3 loss for Mitchell.
BIRD won the “biggest hit” prize for this game. And, honourable mention went to Ryan HARMER for his two fantastic catches in centre field.
On the bright side, this loss meant they got the bye and did not have to play until 3:30pm the next day.
Game two was played at 3:30pm on Saturday afternoon against Walsingham. They watched this team battle hard against Amhurstburg the night before, so they knew this too would be a tough game. Trevor DIXON took to the mound for most of this game where he did not disappoint. He pitched an amazing game and acquired 5 strikeouts.
Both teams had very few errors which kept the score tight and the fans on the edge of their seats. Mitchell started things off early as HARMER and WALKER each scored a run in the 1st inning and BIRD got an RBI. In the 2nd, the first batter got a hit, but after successfully stealing second base he got a little greedy and attempted to steal 3rd. He found himself in a pickle and was ultimately tagged out by BIRD. In the third, DIXON, EIDT and MONDEN turned a double play adding to the exciting vibe that this game was already producing. In the 4th, Walsingham got a run which cut our lead in half. DIXON was not about to let them tie up this game so he took matters into his own hands for the final out as he scooped up the ball that dribbled to him at the pitcher’s mound and rather than throwing it to MONDEN at first he decided to have a foot race and ran it over there himself. From now on, DIXON will be given the steal sign when he is up to bat. BIRD padded our lead with another run in the 5th, but a difficult 6th inning put Walsingham in the lead for the first time this game. DIXON pitched to his daily limit and was replaced with MONDEN for the remainder of the inning. I should mention that Mitchell was down a player as Reid RAMSEYER was on the disabled list with a broken toe. The team played with the minimum 9 players. In the bottom of the 6th, Mitchell found themselves down by two runs. Since it was a double knock out tournament they needed to win this game to make it to the semi-finals. MACARTHUR took his place in the batter’s box, he swung, he hit and he ran as fast as he possibly could in an effort to beat the throw. He beat that throw, but caught the edge of the base and rolled his ankle in the process. Time was called and it did not look good for Mitchell to finish this game or the tournament as they could not play with only 8 players. It was obvious that his ankle was hurt, but after a little rest and a walk he fought through the pain refusing to let his team down. MACARTHUR scored the only run that inning and brought his team that much closer to tying up this game. As they entered the 7th inning Mitchell was down by one. WALKER was the closer and he struck out the first two batters. The next two got hits, but then Drew MACLEAN made a big catch in centre field and he and his boys hustled back to the dugout keen to get the two more runs they needed to win this thing. MACLEAN enthusiastically announced he would be getting home this inning, so it was no surprise when he made his way to first base and then continued to steal 2nd, 3rd and finally tore up the dirt as he took advantage of a passed ball at third base and skidded sideways across home plate. Just in case you lost track…THE GAME IS NOW TIED! Alas, they just could not get that winning run so the game had to go into extra innings. In the top of the 8th there was one out and Walsingham had two runners in a scoring position. The coach yelled that the play was at home. EIDT scooped up the hit to short and chucked it to our catcher, HARMER, who made the tag and Brad the umpire bellowed OUT! That’s two, but they had a runner on third again itching to get home and take the lead. The pitch was thrown and the runner on third took off like a shot. WALKER hurried to the plate to cover as HARMER hustled to the fence for the ball, WALKER caught the ball from HARMER, and waited eagerly for the runner as he tagged him out with ease…which was confirmed by Brad the plate umpire. Excitement filled the air as Mitchell got back in that batter’s box. The first batter was thrown out at first. That’s one out. In fact, that was the one and only out as WALKER came up to bat next, and made his way to first, then second and then, much like MACLEAN, stole third and then flew home and secured the winning run. The excited Mitchell team raced to home plate where WALKER stood and celebrated with hugs and cheers. They were off to the semi-finals!
WALKER won the “biggest hit” prize for that game.
Game three was the semi-final game at 9am on Sunday morning against Amhurstburg. DIXON was the starting pitcher and got himself 4 more strikeouts. If you weren’t counting…that’s a total of nine strikeouts this weekend. After a little coaxing by him, he got a prize too.
Three up, three down was the name of the game for both teams in the 1st inning. Then in the 2nd, Mitchell took control of this game and got four runs scored by BIRD, DIXON, MACLEAN and EIDT. RBI’s were credited to MONDEN and MACARTHUR. Things were looking real good and then the boys had the dreaded “bad inning”. Amhurstburg brought in eight runs in the 3rd. EIDT came in to pitch in the 4th striking out the first batter. Neither team scored, but there was still lots of time for Mitchell to catch up. Walsingham added another run in the 5th, but WALKER also had a big hit and brought the score up to 9 to 5 for Mitchell. WALKER came in to pitch in the 6th, but again the boys had a tough go of it as Walsingham added another 4 runs to their tally. James COPELAND, who had continually been robbed all weekend of his hits or left on base, finally got himself into a scoring position after he stole a couple bases and crossed home plate giving Mitchell another much needed run. MONDEN came in to pitch in the 7th. He struck out the first out, HARMER caught the second in centre field and COPELAND got the third in left field. As they entered into the bottom of the 7th, on this scorching hot morning, the score was 13 to 6. 7 runs were needed to tie things up. BIRD scored. DIXON scored. But, unfortunately, a double play and a strikeout ended this hard fought battle in a 13 to 8 loss for Mitchell.
MACLEAN won the “biggest hit” prize for this game.
These 9 boys played hard and worked well together all weekend. They dug deep when they needed to and made it to the semi-finals. The heart and sportsmanship that they showed all weekend not only made their coaches proud, but won them the admiration of the other teams in the park as they were cheered on by everyone, except Amhurstburg of course, in their final game.
Congratulations boys on a very successful season.