BANTAM OBA’S DEFEATED IN THE SEMI-FINALS AT CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT, News, Bantam OBA, 2016 (Mitchell Minor Baseball)

This Team is part of the 2016 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Sep 09, 2016 | Heather Monden | 2187 views
BANTAM OBA’S DEFEATED IN THE SEMI-FINALS AT CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Labour Day weekend signifies the end of summer holidays for most kids, but for the Zehr Insurance Bantam OBA team it’s the weekend they have been waiting and preparing for all summer. It is their OBA Championship tournament in Wallaceburg.

The draw was made and Mitchell got the bye giving them a first round "win" and allowing them to relax on Friday. The boys played their first game against Exeter on Saturday morning. The top of the first was quick; only one run was scored, but with a strikeout followed by a 6-3 double play executed by Eric GETTLER and Alec MURRAY the inning was over and the Mitchell boys were ready to win this inning. Mitchell did answer back with a run, scored by Drew MACLEAN, but not until the second inning. At this point it was anyone’s ball game. Things were looking good for Mitchell as Jake MONDEN scored another run in the 4th keeping the scoreboard within one run. But an unfortunate turn of events resulting in a double play and then a strike out against us ended the 4th inning and took the wind out of the boys’ sails. Exeter took full advantage and scored themselves six more runs giving them a 9 to 2 lead. Mitchell could not recover and they ended up succumbing to their rivals.

Curt EIDT, GETTLER and pee wee call-up Evan MORRISON shared pitching duties for the game. EIDT had 3 K’s and a successful pick-off at first while GETTLER also acquired 3 K’s. As always, the boys were enticed (aka bribed) with candy to get the biggest hit of the game, and MACLEAN was the winner with his big double in the 2nd inning.

Game number 2 would not be played until around 9pm later that night, so the boys had a lot of extra time on their hands to eat, hang out and for the most part…stay out of trouble. This game they were the visiting team, so they took to the sticks destroying Kincardine right out of the gate with a 13 to 4 lead after the 2nd inning. Runs were scored by Ryan HARMER (2), MONDEN (2), EIDT (2), MACLEAN (2), James COPELAND (2), GETTLER, MORRISON and Ben SMALL. The first inning only 3 Kincardine batters saw the plate as MONDEN helped to set the tone on the mound by striking out their first batter. He would acquire one more K before young MORRISON took over on the mound. MORRISON got himself 4 strikeouts in total. Kincardine on the other hand decided they were not out of this game. They chipped away acquiring a few runs every inning until the scoreboard read 13 to 12 after the 5th inning. Mitchell had lost their mojo on the sticks, so they had to use their defensive skills to keep them on the winning side of things. MORRISON delivered in the 6th by striking out the first batter, Jackson MACARTHUR got the next out, a fly ball to 2nd base and MORRISON finished off the 4th batter with a swing and a miss. Now, let’s fast forward a bit to the bottom of the 7th. The score is still 13 to 12 and Kyle RICHARDSON has now taken his position on the mound. Kincardine batter number one stepped up to the plate and proceeded to fly out to GETTLER at 3rd. Batter number two hit a double causing several Mitchell fans to get to their feet. What is going on! Batter number four grounded out to RICHARDSON and was easily thrown out to MURRAY at 1st. So it’s the bottom of the 7th, two out, tying run is on 3rd and batter number 4 has just entered the batter’s box. RICHARDSON takes a deep breath, calms his nerves and throws the final pitch. The batter grounds out to EIDT on short who delivers a very intense yet perfect throw to first baseman MURRAY to end the game. The Mitchell boys somehow managed to hang onto their lead and advanced themselves to the semi-finals. Biggest hit honours went to MORRISON and EIDT.

Four teams were left to duke it out in the semi-final round. Exeter took out Belle River at their 9am game moving them on to the finals. Mitchell played the undefeated Port Dover at 11:30am. A win for Mitchell would mean all 3 remaining teams would each have only one loss so a further game would be required before that final game.

Sadly, Mitchell could not get on the bats in their semi-final game against Port Dover. It wasn’t until the top of the 5th when MACARTHUR scored our first run and EIDT followed suit in the 6th with our only other run. The damage was done by this point; however, because Dover already had 9 runs. Pee wee call-up Josh EIDT protected the plate for the first part of the game while RICHARDSON, MACARTHUR and Curt EIDT shared pitching duties. Curt EIDT had an impressive six strikeouts against the strong Dover team. The game ended in a 9 to 2 loss advancing Port Dover to the finals against Exeter. Dover barely beat our rivals claiming the Championship for the tournament. MURRAY got the biggest hit with a beauty right down the first base line.

It’s been a fantastic season with the fun, talented group of boys. Thanks for the memories :)

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