Sep 03, 2017 | Heather Monden | 1352 views
BANTAM OBA BRONZE MEDAL WINNERS PLAY IN THE YEAR END TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINALS...TWICE!
Eight teams headed to Wallaceburg this Labour Day Weekend for the year end Bantam OBA tournament. Four teams made it to the semi-finals on Sunday and all of them came from the Western Ontario Baseball Association (WOBA). Yes…Mitchell was one of them.
Friday, September 1st (where did the summer go) we played Game 1 against Delaware at 1pm. Mitchell won the flip and chose to be HOME. Delaware got up to bat and their number one hitter got a base on balls (walk) and, with the help of an error, made his way home scoring their first run. Oh geez! Mitchell got up to bat and answered back with 3 runs. They didn’t stop there. The bantam boys held Delaware to their 1 run and scored 6 more ending the game with a huge 9 to 1 win. Ben SMALL pitched the whole game and earned himself 8 strikeouts (K’s). SMALL hasn’t spent much time on the mound this summer due to a shoulder injury, so this was a huge success for him and the team. Short stop, Eric GETTLER, made a fantastic play at the top of the 4th when he did a fancy spin to catch the ball and make the out at first. Game 2 was Saturday morning against Exeter. This game proved just how mental this sport is. The boys were defeated before they even stepped onto the field and the scoreboard showed it with a 14 to 2 loss. Wyatt HUITEMA, Kyle RICHARDSON and Tanner DIETZ shared mound duty. One amazing event was when SMALL robbed Exeter’s #2 batter by landing a diving catch in the 6th inning between the infield and outfield. Game 3 was later in the afternoon against Dresdan. Mitchell had to win this game to prevent elimination. So, they did! Their spirits were high and they all brought their A game to the ball field scoring 8 runs to Dresdan’s 2. Evan MACARTHUR (who had some huge success at bat this weekend) pounded one so hard that he broke his bat. Wade MONDEN also showed some impressive base running when he slid head first across the plate for a tight play resulting in excitement all around when the ump called him SAFE! GETTLER pitched followed by Josh EIDT. Once again, SMALL made a Pillar type diving catch, but it didn’t stop there he leapt to his feet and threw the runner out at 2nd. Game 4 was the semi-finals on Sunday morning where we met up with Exeter…once again! GETTLER took the mound for all his 90 pitches and dominated. EIDT closed the game and followed right along in GETTLER’s footsteps. GETTLER earned 2 K’s and EIDT added 3 more. While occupying shortstop, EIDT made a desperate catch, twisted his body around and cranked the ball over the Evan MACARTHUR at 3rd base to get the protested 3rd out in the 3rd inning. SMALL once again came through at 2nd base with a big catch to end the 6th inning leaving the bases loaded. You can only imagine the excitement on the Mitchell bench during this game. The score was close all game long. Exeter scored first in the 4th inning, but Mitchell came back with three more…enough to win the game. Kyle RICHARDSON scored two of these runs with huge rockets to the outfield. Mitchell beat their undefeated Exeter rivals leaving 3 teams (Mitchell, Exeter and St. Marys) left to draw for a bye. The remaining two teams had to play yet another semi final game since all three had 2 wins and 1 loss. The umps were all gunning for their favourite Mitchell coach (that’s me in case you were wondering...lol), but they picked the wrong team and St. Mary’s won the draw. Soooo…Mitchell and Exeter played each other…AGAIN! Game 5 Mitchell won the flip again and were the HOME team for I think the 4th game of the tournament. They had the good bench too so all the odds were in their favour. They took a little break for some nourishment and then battled once again for that precious spot in the finals. EIDT started and pitched nearly 4 more innings before running out of pitches acquiring another 3 K’s. He really did rock that position. RICHARDSON came in to get the final K in the 4th and added 2 more before HUITEMA closed the game. At the end of the 4th inning Mitchell was leading 3 to 1. Exeter was flustered and Mitchell was playing a solid game. Until…the 5th inning. Exeter got on the sticks and scored 10 runs. Disheartening? Yes! But Mitchell did not give up. They did not hang their heads or complain…they continued to battle. With the last bat in the 7th inning and a score of 11 to 4, Mitchell started to make a come back. They scored 4 more runs to end the game 10 to 8. Tough loss, but a great weekend of ball. I must also mention how awesome our outfielders were. Connor WEIR (left), Tanner DIETZ (centre) and Devin FENWICK (right) occupied the field for most of the tournament and all three of them killed it out there. Except for a few ginormous hits, they caught everything that game to them preventing several runs and possible losses. Great job boys and Congratulations on being bronze medal winners! P.S. St. Mary’s beat Exeter in a tight final game