The Zehr Insurance WOBA Bantam Blue team arrived in Kincardine on Friday, August 19, 2016, for the first game of its year end tournament; however, Mother Nature had other plans for the team.
Mitchell was up to bat first against the Clinton Mustangs and they shot out of the gate scoring three runs at the top of the 1st. Pee Wee call up, Evan MORRISON, recorded the first run of the game followed by Curt EIDT and Drew MACLEAN.
EIDT took to the mound accumulating all three outs on his own by catching a line drive and then striking out the next two. Mitchell was on fire…until the lightning struck and the game was halted for the required 30 minutes. The weather would not clear that night, so the game resumed the next morning at 8am.
Mitchell struggled offensively the next day and by the bottom of the 6th Clinton had taken over the lead 5 to 3. It was time for an inspirational talk. I can’t tell you what was said, but it worked! The 7th inning was pretty much a carbon copy of the 1st. 9 out of the 10 batters once again saw the batter’s box and three of them (Tristan BEEHLER, Jake WALKER and Jake MONDEN) crossed the plate reclaiming their lead 6 to 5.
All the boys had to do now was hold Clinton off in the bottom of the 7th and they would win the game. MORRISON, the closer, took to the mound. Batter number one was struck out by the pee wee pitcher. The next two got on base (just to keep things interesting), but batter number four also fell victim to MORRISON’s curve ball. The runners had managed to get themselves into a scoring position by this time. The plate ump announced that the next batter was at full count. This was it! MORRISON needed to strike this batter out to prevent these two runners from crossing the plate and ending the game. The pitch was thrown and it registered as a STRIKE! Strike 3…YOU’RE OUT! When the pressure was on these boys dug deep and they got their win!
The boys played back to back games Saturday morning, which appeared to work out in the their favour as they overtook St. Mary’s 9 to 4 giving them a ticket to the semi-finals.
MONDEN handed in his catcher’s gear from the previous game and started this game off on the mound. He struck out 3 batters before MACLEAN took over late in the 5th also adding three K’s to his stats.
The team’s other pee wee call-up, Josh EIDT, positioned himself behind the plate where he played a very tight game keeping everyone in check.
Runs were scored in the 2nd inning by Brenden BOVILLE, Josh EIDT, BEEHLER, MONDEN and MORRISON. In the 4th, MONDEN scored, once again, followed by Curt EIDT and MORRISON again. The 6th inning Curt EIDT got Mitchell’s final run of the game.
But let’s go back a couple innings shall we. It’s the top of the 4th and Jackson MACARTHUR is up to bat. MACARTHUR swings and sends the sacrifice hit right into the hands of the first baseman. He gets his RBI as Curt "Wheels" EIDT crosses the plate. At this time, the St. Mary’s first baseman decides to try and throw MACLEAN out as he strays dangerously far from second base. The 2nd baseman is ready to tag MACLEAN, but to no one’s surprise (at least on our team) MACLEAN leaps straight up in the air, over the 2nd baseman and crashes hard onto the base. He is SAFE! Why do I never have my camera when this kid performs these incredible moves?
St. Mary’s did get a two run homerun late in the game, but it wasn’t enough to take the lead and Mitchell is now sitting pretty going into game 3.
Game 3 was held on the big diamond at 5pm. Pitching duties were shared by MONDEN, MORRISON, MACLEAN and MACARTHUR was the closer.
MONDEN was the only player to cross the plate for the Mitchell team and as a result they succumbed to North Middlesex 6 to 1 and would return to the semis on Sunday with one loss under their belt.
The Semi-final game saw a few different players in the lineup. Jack DIXON and Alec MURRAY from the red team along with pee wee call-up Bradley BOVILLE were signed to compensate for the loss of MONDEN, Curt EIDT and MACARTHUR.
The team, once again, met up with Clinton, but today’s game would unfortunately have a far different outcome. Clinton played hard and overtook us 10 to 4 securing a spot for themselves in the Finals and sending us home with our second loss of the tournament.
Runs were scored by Brayden CRONIN-HORAN, Brenden BOVILLE, Jack DIXON and Josh EIDT.
The Bantam Blue team played some of their best games this weekend and should be very proud of coming from the bottom of the 7 team Championship division and making it to the semi-finals. Great job boys!