Peewee’s Finalist in Guelph Tourny, News, Peewee, 2011 Season (Listowel Minor Baseball)

The Peewee’s had little expectations heading into the Guelph Royals “AA” tourney but left feeling a lot better about their abilities even after losing to Clarington in the “B” Finals.

Looking for an early season measuring stick the local lads (a “C” centre) entered the Guelph Royal’s “AA” tourney. Game 1 on Friday afternoon pitted them against Waterdown, in what started out as a pitcher’s duel. Parker Yungblut got the start for Listowel; after the teams exchanged an early run Yungblut settled in to pitch a gem allowing only 1 more runs over the remaining 6 innings. The offensive kicked in late in the game scoring runs in the 5^th & 6^th innings to give Listowel the 5-2 victory. Chris Enders led the charge with 3 hits, while Yungblut & Derek Fischer each had 2 and Brett MacLeod, Ben Bowman & Michael Uptigrove chipped in with 1 each.
Game 2 on Saturday morning saw the Legionaries in a see-saw affair against Martin Grove. The White Sox took the early lead but the young Listowel team showed tons of character as they battled back on several occasions. In the 6^th inning Listowel plated 2 runs to tie the game then added 1 more in top the 7^th to take the 1 run lead. Martin Grove responded with a run of their own, in the bottom of the 7^th to tie the game, making the final 7-7. Fischer got the start but they had his number early as he gave up 6 runs over 2 innings. Uptigrove came in and shut the door allowing 1 run over 5 innings. Lucas Jamieson & Bowman lead the offensive charge with 2 hits each while Jeff Mock, Yungblut, Enders & Uptigrove each had 1.
In game 3 the Legionaries faced the undefeated Chatham Diamonds in a game that had lots of implications. Win & Listowel goes to the “A” semifinal, tie & it’s the “B” semifinal, lose & it’s in the hands of a mathematical calculation. Will Calder got the start but it was short lived as Chatham’s bats liked his speed & when the dust cleared they had 6 runs with only 1 out in the 1^st inning. Enter Bowman whose unique style quieted the Diamonds bats allowing only 1 run over the next 5-2/3 innings. With Bowman on the mound the locals lads clawed their way back into the game scoring runs in 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th & in the 7^th inning tied the game at 7. In the bottom of the inning Chatham pushed a run across to give them the 8-7 victory. However a pre-game calculation had determined that if we allowed 9 or less runs we should advance which makes the teams never give up mentality even more impressive.
The “B” semifinal was another pitching duel and again Yungblut was on the mound for the Legionaries. He baffled the Quinte Royals over 6 innings allowing only 4 hits while striking out 5. This game’s major excitement came in the 7^th inning when Quinte scored 2 runs to tie the game at 3 and were pressing to take the lead. They had runners at 2^nd & 3^rd with only 1 out, then hit a deep fly ball to right field where Reid Gooding camped under it then released a cannon to home to cut down the runner tagging from 3^rd (note: a nice pick & tag by Fischer at the plate). With the team buzzing from the inning ending play the Legionaries batted in the bottom of the inning needing 1 run to advance. Then as fate has it Gooding delivered the game winning hit giving Listowel the 4-3 victory.
In the final Listowel faced the Clarington Orioles and the local lads took an early 3-2 lead but Clarington stormed back and stretched their lead to 7 at one point, but again peewees showed character mounting a late rally feel however if fell just a little short losing 10-7. Uptigrove & Calder shared the pitching duties and pitched well. Fischer was named player of the game as he collected 3 hits and was solid behind the plate.

Obviously the coaching staff and parents were elated with the weekend’s results & not only with the scores but more about how the team demonstrated great character, class & teamwork At some point over the weekend all the players contributed with a timely hit, a great defensive play, some solid pitching or good base running. Throughout the weekend many opposition coaches & fans commented on what a great team Listowel was and in the final had many non-Listoweltonians cheering for the local lads. On a baseball note the coaches noted a tremendous improvement over the 5 games and with still a few areas to improve on it should bow well for their next tournament in July.

Front L-R Reid Gooding, Lucas Jamieson, Jeff Mock, Ben Bowman, Parker Yungblut, Michael Uptigrove; Middle L-R Austin McGrath, Chris Enders, Derek Fischer, Will Calder, Brett MacLeod; Coaches Rob Hollinger, Marc Bowman, Matt MacLeod