Rookie OBA Pirates capture gold
Over the weekend, the Port Lambton Rookie OBA Pirates took home the gold medal in the Wyoming Wranglers Rookie Classic.
The weekend started off with a rain delayed game against a very good Leamington Lakers team. Rain caused the game to be delayed after three innings and then concluded at the end of the day on Saturday with Leamington coming out on top 6-5 in a very tight defensive game.
Saturday included the rest of the round robin games, with the first contest being played against the local Wyoming Minor team with a blowout win of 23-0.
Their final round robin game had the Rookie Pirates up against a tough Lucan-Ilderton team. It was a tight game heading into the final innings before opening right up for the Pirates, who came away with a 15-4 victory.
With two wins and one loss, that left the Pirates in second place in their division and set up a quarter finals match against their local rivals, the Corunna Giants on Sunday morning. Corunna gave the Pirates a tight game, but the Rookie Pirates came out on top with a score of 16-6.
The team then moved to the semi-finals against Exeter. The game started out as a close defensive battle with neither team giving up any easy bases or runs. The Pirates came out in the fourth inning with some big hits, which plated seven runs. The Rookie Pirates finished the game with a 12-3 win.
This victory setup a finals showdown and re-match against Leamington.
The Pirates were ready for this game and knew that Leamignton would be tough, but as long as they made no mental errors defensively and had their bats working, they could compete and get the win.
Being played in Wyoming at Centennial Park, the game started off as a defensive showdown with no runs scored in the first two innings, with both teams gathering hits but leaving runners stranded on the bases.
The big inning for Port Lambton was the third, when they scored five runs with big hits from Parker Wigle, Lilly Klompstra, Noah VanRuymbeke, Ethan Rosseel and Brock Lane.
The other big inning was the fifth, when the Pirates scored four runs on hits from Jared Ritchie, Nate Bastow, Lane and VanRuymbeke. From there the Pirates defense took over and shut the Lakers offence down only allowing one run the rest of the way.
The final score was 9-1 for the Pirates, as they clinched the gold medal.
The tournament had 12 teams compete from all over southwestern Ontario.
Over the entire weekend the Pirates outscored their opponents 80-20.
Great defensive work andhot bats got the job done for the Pirates.
Individual Game MVP’s throughout the weekend went to Sommer Dalgety, Nate Bastow, VanRuymbeke, Lane and twice to Klompstra.
Tournament MVP went to Lane.
Team officials wanted to send out a big thank-you to the players, coaches and the big Pirates family for a great weekend of camping, fun and lots of great baseball.
Port Lambton Peewee’s smoke out Blenheim Bees
In Peewee Boys River League action on Wednesday July 5, the Port Lambton Pirates and the Blenheim Bees met for the second time this season.
The fans packed in to MacDonald Park in Port Lambton for the game.
Pirates’ starting pitcher Logan Lester came out solid to shut out the Bees in the first inning, assisted by Jack Murphy’s solo double-play from shortstop.
The Pirates put up seven runs through eight batters in their first inning at bat to trigger the mercy rule and switch sides.
Singles came from Wade McLaughlin, Aaron Highfield, Chase Sitze, Murphy, Brayden Krayenbrink, and Cameron Peats.
Adam Atkins blasted a three-run triple.
The Bees posted two runs in the second inning, but stranded three on base.
The Pirates continued to smoke out the Bees in the second, with blazing bats taking them to a second mercy inning and a 14-2 lead.
Offensive contributors with singles were McLaughlin, Highfield, Atkins and Murphy. Sitze doubled and Brodie Altiman rifled a line drive shot to left field to end the inning with a home run.
Krayenbrink would also homer in the next inning, his second in as many games.
In the final innings the Pirates counted on consistent hitting from the latter part of the line-up getting two singles from Marcus Boswell and three singles from Ivan Dubois.
The Peewee’s took the game 24–2 and remain undefeated on the season with a 9-0 record.
Hole-in-one for Tooshkenig
Walpole Island’s Steve Tooshkenig shot a hole-in-one on Monday. Check out his tweet below:
Hole in one today just had to tweet it #NAIG2017 pic.twitter.com/mApfk87dsV
— Steve Tooshkenig (@stgolfinc) 10 July 2017
