EOBA NewsOshawa Legionaires Mosquito Squad Wins Bolton Tournamentposted July 21/08
The Oshawa Mosquitos were undefeated throughout the tournament in Bolton on the July 18 - 20 weekend. Game 1 was on Friday night against Waterloo. At the end of the 3rd inning, the teams were tied at 3, when the Oshawa sticks livened up, scoring 7 runs in the 4th inning, then another 9 runs in the 5th, defeating the Waterloo team in 5 innings. On Saturday morning, Oshawa defeated a very spirited Vaughan Vikings team by a score of 13 - 8. After clinching first place with their victory over Vaughan, it set up a match with undefeated Thornhill on Saturday afternoon. After falling behind 10 - 0, Oshawa's late game rally resulted in an 11 - 11 tie, to send them to Sunday's play-off round undefeated. On Sunday afternoon, after a 3 hour rain delay, Oshawa was matched up against the home town Bolton Braves, and despite home field advantage, Oshawa broke open a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 4th with 4 unanswered runs and backed it up with 7 unanswered runs in the 5th, to eliminate the home town team from the tournament in the semi-finals, and sending Oshawa to the championship game late Sunday afternoon. Oshawa's opponent in the finals, was Georgetown, who had also streaked through the tournament to the championship game. A stellar pitching match-up through the first 3-1/2 innings, had Georgetown leading the score at 2 - 1, when Oshawa scored 6 unanswered runs on the home side of the 4th inning, and backed it up with 5 more unanswered runs in the 5th, sending Oshawa home with a convincing 12 - 2 victory to win the tournament. On a weekend where the weather went from one extreme to the other, scorching hot sun on Saturday to rain and fog on Sunday, Oshawa prevailed in a total team effort with dominating pitching from Jake Bricknell and Michael Uden and relief appearances by Jason Crouse, Drew Bradford, Ryley Davenport and Connor May who shut the door in the Thornhill game. Once again, Oshawa's knack for timely hitting put constant pressure on other teams' pitching staff, lead by Bricknell, Crouse, Cole Puddicombe, Tyler Warner, Jack Riordan, Josh Norris, Connor May, and Davenport. Other key hits at critical times were made by Bradford, Connor King and Kyle Watson, as well as Uden's bases clearing triple against Thornhill which tied the game. Stellar defensive plays helped keep Oshawa in close games were made by outfielders Puddicombe and Watson. Catching a majority of the innings throughout the tournament, Josh Norris had enough left in the tank to throw out 2 Georgetown base runners trying to steal bases early in the final to set the tone and give Oshawa the momentum to rise to victory. In the Saturday afternoon skills contest, special mention to Cole Puddicombe who took 2nd place in the base running contest. Oshawa coaches are Steve Crouse, Jeff Norris, Bill King, Travis Bradford and Peter Riordan. |
