Aug 08, 2016 | Trevor Russwurm | 857 views
Rookies Upset in WOBA League Playoff Tourney
The Mitchell Stickhandler Tier 1 Major Rookie Astros competed in the 8-team WOBA Playoff Tournament hosted in Mitchell Aug 5-7th. Entering the tournament as the heavy favourites after an undefeated season, the locals finished a disappointing third after being ousted by eventual champion Listowel Legionnaires 13-11 in the semi-finals on Sunday.
A hungry Listowel offense opened the scoring in the top of the first with four runs. The Astros answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half, led by Carson Harmer's opening single followed by Dominic Marshall's RBI triple. Listowel exploded for the seven-run max in the fourth inning, but the locals answered back in the fifth by matching that, leading to an 11-11 score going into the last inning. The visitor took the lead again in the top half with a two-run triple. After two quick outs, things looked promising for the Astros in the bottom half with the bases loaded but Listowel stunned their hosts by shutting them down for the win.
Mitchell opened the tournament on Friday night with a 25-15 win over Goderich, as Ben Medhurst's two-run triple and Ryan Hubbard's RBI double paced the five-run opening inning. Harmer finished 5-for-5 with a two-run homer, and Kellen Russwurm, Joel Meinen, Zach Houben, Medhurst, and Hubbard each scored three times. Extra base hits were also recorded by Jack Miller, Russwurm, and Houben.
Next up was Listowel on Saturday morning, with the locals prevailing by a score of 14-4. Drawing visitors on their home diamond, the boys responded with three runs to open the game, scoring every inning but one to never give up the lead. The power bats were on display in the five-run third, as a season-high four triples were hit in one inning by Harmer, Marshall, Russwurm, and Medhurst. Hubbard turned an unassisted double-play at first base in the opening inning.
The Astros faced Kincardine later that afternoon, handing them their first loss with a 21-8 victory. Harmer set the tone early, leading off the game with a solo home run and would finish 4-for-4 with 4 runs scored. Marshall, Miller, and Medhurst all slammed RBI triples and Miller and Charlie Geiger led with 5 RBI's.
Entering Sunday undefeated, the locals faced St Marys at 9am, dropping an 11-8 decision for their first loss in league play all season. The hot bats from the day before were apparently forgotten at home, as they were shut down in the first and only scored more than one run per inning once the entire game. Defense was also an issue, giving up the seven-run maximum early on in the second inning to give St Marys a 9-1 lead that they would never relinquish. Mitchell's defense recovered after that, limiting their opponents to two runs over the last four innings, but the bats could not get going enough to catch up.
The team will now play a series of exhibition games during the remainder of the month to prepare for the OBA Provincial 'D' Championship in Port Lambton on Labour Day Weekend.