It’s been a busy couple weeks for the D.L Hannon Minor Mosquito OBA team.
May 25th to the 27th the team competed in the Clinton tournament playing four games over the weekend.
The team opened the tournament late Friday night with a game against Waterloo, unfortunately falling short in a quick four inning game. Starting pitcher Max Hannon struck out three over the first two innings, while Elijah Bender made a inning ending pop fly catch to the end the second to get the team out of a jam. Jonah Gibbings entered the game in the top of the third and also struck out three, in two innings of work. Waterloo's starting pitcher went four deep, and retired all of Mitchell's batting order, to secure Waterloo a 16-0 win against the Astros.
Bright and early Saturday morning, Mitchell faced an experienced hard hitting Walkerton team. Ethan Jarmuth got the game started on the mound and turned the plate over to Logan Verberne. Brayden Pennings came on in and held Walkerton scoreless in the third. Evan Jassen came into the game in the top of the fifth inning and struck out two batters, and held Walkerton to only four runs scored in their final at bat. Catcher Max Hannon ended a home run attempt in the third by Walkerton with help of Jarmuth and Verberne in the field. A two run triple by Zack Siemon-Hergot in the bottom of the first, with single runs batted in from Verberne and Charlie Wolfe helped to get Mitchell on the scoreboard. Unfortunately these runs weren't enough as Mitchell fell to 16-4 to Walkerton.
Saturday afternoon’s game against London, gave the team a boost of confidence when they were ahead to 12-8 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. Ryan Klumper got to work in the first two innings striking out four, and allowing only four runs to be scored. A seven run third inning saw Mitchell pull ahead of London 12-4. A single from Braden Hogey advanced a runner into scoring position, while Olen Hopf, Ethan Jarmuth Jonah Gibbings each singled in one run. Klumper added a two run triple, while Landon VanBakel took a walk for the team advancing runners into scoring position, which Evan Jassen captilaized on with a two run single during the inning. Charlie Wolfe entered the game in the third, allowing no runs in the fourth to hold London down by four runs into their final bat. Elijah Bender came into the game in the fifth. The game ended in a 15-12 decision for London.
In the Consolation final of the tournament, the Astro’s met up for a re-match of Saturday’s thriller, with an intense game early Sunday morning against London. Max Hannon got the team started allowing only three runs and striking out two, when reliever Ryan Klumper came in and went the next two innings and kept Mitchell within three runs of London. Strong pitching coming from Jonah Gibbings in the fifth, saw an already short 9-man Astro line-up go down one person on the field due to a sudden injury for Mitchell and London capitalized on the hole, batting in three additional runs to pull ahead from the Astros. A 2 run double from Olen Hopf late in the game wasn't enough, and after 2 hours and 5 minutes of playing in the 30 degree heat, Mitchell couldn't gain back the runs they were behind and fell to London for the second time in the tournament.
Despite the scores, the team had a great weekend and everyone contributed with outstanding defensive plays on the field.
Then on June 4th, The D.L. Hannon Minor Mosquitos met up with Clinton OBA's on the Astro’s home field. Mitchell was unable to cross home plate during the game and despite good pitching coming from Ethan Jarmuth, Brayden Pennings, and Max Hannon, the Astros fell 18-0 to the opposing team.
OBA action resumed for the team on May 10th with a road trip to Mount Forest.