OTTAWA-Two Ontario teams, London and Windsor, celebrated Gold Medals at the Midget and Junior Championships respectively, while Québec took home the Bronze Medal at both events.
Junior
Windsor 5 Ontario (2) 2 (Gold Medal)
Windsor capped an undefeated week and celebrated a Gold Medal on home soil as they defeated Ontario 2 by a score of 5-2. Rob Cooper (Tecumseh, ON) went the distance, giving up only two runs and struck out nine to get the victory on the mound. Offensively, Windsor put up a three-spot in the second inning to pull ahead after Ontario 2 took a 1-0 lead in the first. Justin Cook (Dresden, ON) delivered a clutch double in the second that brought in two runs. Windsor added insurance runs in the fourth and fifth innings and Cooper held Ontario 2 off the scoreboard with the exception of one run scored in the sixth.
Québec 7 Ontario (1) 2 (Bronze Medal)
Québec claimed the Bronze Medal with a 7-2 victory over Ontario 1 on the strength of Jonathan Paquet’s (Ancienne-Lorette, QC) complete-game pitching performance. Paquet allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk while fanning four in seven innings of work. Simon Brisebois (Mascouche, QC) paced the offence with a 2-for-3 day which included a solo homerun in the second inning and three RBI’s.
Earlier in the day, both semi-finals featured one-run games that could have gone either way. Windsor led Ontario 1 by a score of 1-0 going in to the seventh only to see Ontario 1 tie the score. In the bottom of the inning, Larry Balkwill’s (Chatham, ON) sacrifice-fly scored James Drew (Windsor, ON) to give Windsor the walk-off win.
In the other semi-final, Michael Cardinale’s (Etobicoke, ON) RBI single in the first stood as the winning run as Billy Hurley (Mississauga, ON) threw a complete-game shutout. Québec’s Iannick Rémillard (Valleyfield, QC) also had a solid outing as he went the distance and gave up the only run of the game in the first while fanning four batters.
Midget
Ontario 8 Alberta 6 (Gold Medal)
Ontario scored two runs in the top of the eighth and managed to record the final out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame to defeat Alberta 8-6 and win the Gold Medal. The go ahead and insurance marker in the eighth came from a hit batter and walk when the bases were loaded. Nolan Anderson (London, ON) figured prominently in the game as he had a single, triple, and two RBI’s while coming on in relief to get the final batter of the game to pop-out to first base. Not to be outdone, Taylor Carr (St. Thomas, ON) gave his team six innings of solid pitching on the mound and delivered two hits, including a triple, and one RBI. Ramon Valdez (Chestermere, AB) capped a strong tournament at the plate with a 3-for-4 game and one RBI while Alberta starter, Shawn Anderson (Calgary, AB) threw seven innings on the mound and struck out seven batters.
Québec 7 Saskatchewan 0 (Bronze Medal)
Québec brought home their second Bronze Medal of the day, this time at the Midget level as they shutout Saskatchewan 7-0. Guillaume Blanchette (St-Constant, QC) turned in a dominant performance on the mound as he fashioned a complete-game two-hitter and struck out ten to record the win. William Robitaille (Stoneham, QC) went 3-for-3 and collected two RBI’s while Gabriel Fromental-Houle (Repentigny, QC) nailed a double in the first inning that scored two runs.
The story of semi-final #1 was Tim Black (Mount Hope, ON) who threw a one-hitter and struck out eight as Ontario blanked Québec 3-0 to reach the Gold Medal game. Byron Reichstein (St. Thomas, ON) led the fourth inning off with a double, advanced to third base on a wild-pitch and scored on another wild-pitch in what turned out to be the winning run.
The second semi-final saw Alberta thump Saskatchewan 11-1 as Wyle Cunningham (Red Deer, AB) struck out eleven to earn the win. Brady Oxford (Saint John, NB) went 4-for-5 with one RBI while Ramon Valdez (Chestermere, AB) and Doug Clapperton (Calgary, AB) each has two hits and three RBI’s.
