OTTAWA- Gold Medals were handed out at three National Championships including the Peewee Western, Midget and Junior championships.
Peewee Western
The Gold Medal game was a shootout between the host Brandon club and undefeated Abbotsford. Abbotsford kept their streak intact and hung on for a wild 13-11 victory. With Abbotsford holding a 4-3 lead in the 5th inning, Brandon struck for 6 runs to take a 9-4 lead. Marshal Burgess (Brandon, MB) had the big blow of the inning when he smacked a double that cleared the bases to bring in 3 runs. The lead was short lived as Abbotsford answered back in the bottom portion of the inning with an 8 run outburst. Jonah Swanson (Abbotsford, BC) and Jeffrey Godard (Cloverdale, BC) each had 2 run singles to key the scoring. Each team used three pitchers in the game and it was Abbotsford’s Keaton Boughen (Abbotsford, BC) who was credited with the win.
The Bronze Medal game was also an all-out offensive battle between Ridge Meadows and the Saskatoon Braves. In the end Ridge Meadows turned out to be the last team standing as they won 12-9. Brendan Halstrom was the big bopper at the plate going 4 for 5 including a big 2 run homer in the 3rd inning.
Two semi-final game s were played in the morning which saw Brandon beat the Saskatoon Braves 6-2 and Abbotsford win the battle of BC over Ridge Meadows 5-2. Winning pitchers from these games were Mitchell Lyall (Brandon, MB) from Brandon and Abbotsford’s Austin Zacher (Abbotsford, BC).
Junior
Trois- Riviéres looked to send the hometown crowd happy in the Gold Medal game, but it wasn’t meant to be as Manitoba took the title game by a score of 6-4. Trois-Riviéres held a slight 3-2 lead until the bottom of the 5th when Manitoba took control of the game by scoring 4 runs. With 2 out in the inning and Manitoba ahead by one run a costly error scored 2 more Manitoba runs to put them ahead by three. Manitoba received solid pitching from eventual game winner Mac Batchelor (Altona, MB) and Anthony Friesen (Somerset, MB) who picked up the save. Trois-Riviéres Dany Boivin (Trois-Riviéres, QC) hit a solo homerun in the 2nd inning and Cédric Valliéres (Roxton Pond, QC) had a hit and 2 RBI to pace Trois-Riviéres offensively.
Québec took the Bronze Medal as they edged Ontario 2-1 in style with a walk-off win in the bottom of the 7th. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Thierry Valliéres (Longueuil, QC) singled to bring home the winning run.
Some placement games were also played during the day which saw New Brunswick win the 5th place game, 9-7 over Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia beat Newfoundland 5-4 to win the 7th place game. Dan McNeil (Salisbury, NB) was the winning pitcher for New Brunswick while Cameron Marling (Halifax, NS) was credited with the victory for Nova Scotia.
Midget
Several games were played in London as rain wreaked havoc on the tournament the previous day.
Tim Black (Mount Hope, ON) brought his best stuff to the Gold Medal game and it proved to be too much for Québec (1) as Ontario managed a 6-2 victory. Black pitched the complete game victory and struck out 11. The game was close through the first 5 innings as Québec’s (1) Gabriel Lapierre (Verdun, QC) was matching Black pitch-for-pitch to keep the game scoreless. Ontario got to Lapierre in a big way in the 6th inning when they blew the game wide-open with 6 runs. Michael Foster (Pickering, ON) got things started by tripling with the bases loaded to break the goose eggs. Foster later scored on a wild-pitch and Ontario added 2 more runs to take a commanding lead. Québec (1) had one chance to make a comeback and they didn’t go away quietly as Mathieu Joly tagged Black for a 2 run homer to cut the lead to four with 2 out. It was too little too late as Black struck out the final batter to seal the victory for Ontario.
The London Badgers sent the local fans home happy as they beat BC 5-2 in the Bronze Medal game. Andrew Simonetti (Toronto, ON) was brilliant on the mound, tossing a complete game victory which saw him fan 5 batters. Cam Firth (London, ON) keyed the offence with 3 hits and an RBI.
The first semi-final saw Christophe Richard (Montréal, QC) go 4 for 4 with an RBI as Québec (1) doubled up on BC 8-4. In a battle on Ontario, Michael Foster struck out 10 as Ontario shutout London 3-0 in the second semi-final.
Other scores from the day included: Québec (1) blanking Québec (2) 3-0 in quarter-final action and London squeaking by Nova Scotia 4-3 in the other quarter-final. Mathieu Paradis (Charlesbourg, QC) fashioned a 3 hitter to earn the win for Québec (1) and Dayton Dawe (London, ON) tossed the victory for London while striking out 10 batters.
Three placement games were played that saw Québec (2) hammer Nova Scotia 10-2 in the 5th place game, New Brunswick defeated Alberta 6-2 in the 7th place game and in a battle of provincial neighbours Manitoba got by Saskatchewan 9-8 to take 9th place.
Notes: There’s more action in store next week as another three National Championships are scheduled to kick-off! In Richmond, BC the Bantam Girl’s championship will provide a fantastic week of baseball, over in Vaughn, Ontario the Bantam Boys will do battle and in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia the Senior Men’s championship will provide some great action. All of the championships will start on August 26th. For more information please visit: http://www.baseball.ca/eng_doc.cfm?DocID=145
