Jun 15, 2017 | Heather Monden | 1193 views
IT’S FINALLY BALL SEASON!
Farmers and ball players alike were not happy with Mother Nature during the month of May as wet conditions made it impossible to get on the field.
The Zehr Insurance Bantam OBA Astros finally started its season on May 30th in the metropolis of Tillsonburg where the boys clinched a 14 to 3 mercy over their opponent. Tanner DIETZ pitched the first two innings and acquired 2 strikeouts (aka K’s) followed by Josh EIDT who completed the final three innings and earned himself an impressive 6 K’s. One of the Tillsonburg Otters got himself into a bit of a pickle not once, but twice. A pick-off attempt ended in the Astros favour as they closed in on the Otter between 1st and 2nd bases. Devin FENWICK to Ben SMALL to Evan MACARTHUR and finally to Eric GETTLER for the out. Pickle number two did not take nearly as much work as catcher, Wyatt HUITEMA tossed the ball to 3rd baseman, Kyle RICHARDSON and back to HUITEMA who placed the tag and got the out.
The team’s second win was an exhibition home game against Kincardine on June 2nd. In the second inning an exciting double play was made to end the first half after a fly ball was caught by DIETZ in center field, cut four to pitcher HUITEMA who quickly relayed the ball to Pee Wee call-up catcher, Luke MURRAY enabling him to get the out and prevent the run. Kale MURRAY and Dawson DIETZ, also Pee Wee call-ups, added to the score with one run each. After 7 innings the score was 9 to 3.
On June 12th the team was on the road again, this time they played the DKMB River Cats in Komoka and picked up another mercy, 15 to 3. FENWICK debuted on the mound in the third inning where he met up with 6 batters and got all three outs himself. Connor WEIR contributed one of these runs after he was walked and then proceeded to steal 2nd, 3rd and home.
The most impressive game of the season thus far was on June 13th in London against the London Badgers. With just 9 Astros and a very bright sun to contend with the boys had their work cut out for them. Wade MONDEN was the first one to finally get a hold of a pitch and send it out of the infield, but the Badgers center fielder, who resembled Pillar later in the game, camped out under it and nabbed the out. By the bottom of the 4th, Mitchell had one hit and London had two and the score was 1 nothing Badgers. Excellent pitching and air tight defence by both teams kept the score close until the 6th inning when the Astros finally ran out of gas and the Badgers...well, they did not! They creamed us that inning attaining 7 more runs for a final score of 10 zip. Despite the loss, these Mitchell boys played one heck of a game and should be very proud of themselves. I know I am!