This year’s Ontario Baseball Association Junior “B” Championships were not very kind to the Soo Junior Black Sox of the Northern Elite League.
The Sox will find themselves as spectators for Sunday afternoon’s championship after dropping their opening two games in the double elimination tournament, which opened up on Friday afternoon.
On day one, the Sox opened their schedule with a 2-0 loss to Chatham. Dave Smith took the win on the mound for Chatham as he gave up five hits over seven innings in the shutout. Ben Myers, who was equally as strong as Smith for the most part, took the loss for the Sox going six innings and giving up two hits and four walks.
Cole Smalec and Adam Carricato each had a pair of hits in the loss.
Friday’s other action saw Stoney Creek beat Barrie 4-0 on the strength of Mark Nicholson’s gem on the mound. Nicholson scattered three Barrie hits and struck out seven for the win. John McDonell pitched well for Barrie striking out five while giving up just five hits and a walk over seven strong innings. Just two of the four runs he gave up were earned runs.
The final game on Friday saw Oakridge edge Aurora 5-4. Oakridge pitcher Shane Riley was the story in this one, striking out 14 Aurora hitters over seven innings and giving up just two earned runs and three hits. Kyle Piwowarczyk led the way offensively with two singles and a double, while Jon Coates added a single and a double and Keith Gormandy added two singles in the win.
Action on day two opened up as St. Thomas, who had a first round bye, opened up their schedule with a 5-1 loss at the hands of Stoney Creek, who improved their record to 2-0 with the win. Nick Rogerson had two singles in the win while Jamie Crickmore also chipped in with a pair of singles along with a walk. Kevin Whyte struck out seven over seven innings of work in the win.
Oakridge also moved to 2-0 early on day two as they beat Chatham 7-4. Coates, Piwowarczyk and Gormandy were the big guns offensively again as they combined for four singles and a double in the win. Ron Paz got the win on the mound.
Oakridge and Stoney Creek then did battle later in the day in a battle of the only undefeated teams in the tournament. Not surprisingly, the game went into extra innings where Mike Brejak singled in the winning run to give Oakridge the win. Piwowarczyk walked twice in the win. Gormandy pitched all eight innings scattering five hits and four walks while striking out seven. Tom Hicks took the loss despite giving up just one earned run in the game and striking out six.
The big game of day two from a local standpoint was the Black Sox and their matchup against Barrie, who eliminated Aurora earlier in the day by beating them 8-3 on the strength of Matt Proctor’s three singles.
The scoring in this game didn’t get started until the top of the third inning when the Sox got a rally going. After a single by Rick Mills, the following two hitters, Tyler Belanger and Justin Soltys both reached base, Belanger by single and Soltys by walk. A walk to Jeff Leonard two hitters later brought home Mills and the first run of the game.
In the sixth, the Sox added to their lead as Leonard, Carricato and Dan O’Connor all singled to increase the Sox lead to 2-0.
The Sox lead held up until the bottom of the seventh. After Matt Proctor walked, a single by David White gave Barrie some hope. After Brian McLeod grounded out, David Reid became the early hero, lining a ball that Soo pitcher Kai Tuomi left up in the strike zone, down the left field line and just out of the reach of Sox third baseman Tyler Binkley to tie the game.
The game went into extra innings and in the top of the twelfth inning the Sox threatened loading the bases with just one out, but problems at the plate that have plagued the Sox all season long came back to haunt them as Cole Smalec struck out and then Jeff Leonard hit into an inning ending fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the inning Barrie loaded the bases with two outs and Jamie Carmichael became the new hero as he lined a ball to short that Belanger could not handle and the error led to the winning run scoring from third.
The Sox picked up solid pitching performances again, this time from Kai Tuomi and J.J. Bergamin as both pitched well despite the loss.
Despite Barrie’s resilience, Sox coach Steve Hurley was confident that his team was going to be able to pull the win out and, despite the disappointment of the loss, Hurley is proud of the way his club has responded all season.
“I really thought we were going to win it in extras,” Hurley said. “It’s definitely hard (to lose the way we did), but I’m proud of the guys. They played their butts off tonight.”
Hurley went on to say that he was disappointed in his team’s performance at the plate, something that has been a problem for the team this season. The Sox had multiple chances to take control of the game, but could not get a timely hit to drive in key runs. Hurley also went on to say that some mental mistakes at key times during the game did not help.
“I’m very disappointed in our hitting,” Hurley added. “Mental mistakes, that’s what killed us this weekend.”
The loss knocked the host Sox out of the OBA tournament and allowed Barrie to move on and play Sunday morning. The Sox, who finished third in the Northern Elite League standings this season, were granted entry into the seven team tournament this weekend as the host team.
Action continues in the OBA tournament on Sunday morning with two semi-final games. Both games will take place at 9:30 a.m. with one game being held at Sinclair Baseball Fields on Field E while the other will take place at the Queen Elizabeth baseball field. The championship will be held at Sinclair on Field E at noon on Sunday.