“Peewee’s are OBA Champions”, News, Peewee, 2012 (Listowel Minor Baseball)

For lots of parents, families, friends and players that has a wonderful ring to it. The local lads capped off a great weekend by beating a very good Corunna team 7-6 in the championship game, capturing the OBA Peewee D crown.

The weekend started with a game against Essex on Friday afternoon. The young men seemed a little nervous in the 1^st inning but led by their starter Will Calder they settled down quickly. Calder pitched great, actually coming within an out of pitching a complete game while the offence was a total team contribution as all starters had at least 1 hit, Lucas Jamieson, Reid Gooding, Nic O’Grady, Tyson Meyer & Michael Uptigrove all had 3 hits apiece on route to a 14-4 victory.

Game 2 pitted the young Legionaries against Wyoming and the game was all Listowel from the start as the local lads scored often, eventually mercying Wyoming 18-0 in just 3 innings.  Ethan Cook started the game as was very economical with his pitches throwing only 27 pitches over the 3 innings and again offensively it was a team effort as they pounded out 14 hits (Jamieson, Gooding, Meyer, O’Grady & Alex Mock led the way with 2 each)

Game 3, and the 2^nd game of the day was a much different game as they faced Corunna for the 1^st time this weekend. The local lads got off to a good start taking an early 5-0 led, behind the strong pitching of Uptigrove. However as the game progressed it would be the defence that would become suspect, combined that with the good hitting of Corunna and you end up with a 14-6 Corunna victory.

With the loss the Legionaries now faced a must win against Port Dover. Brett MacLeod would get the start pitching a strong 3 innings, spotting his team to an 8-6 lead. From there Jamieson & Austin McGrath would keep the Sailors at bay while the offense continued to score runs. Approximately 3 hours after it started the local lads proved victorious 20-11. Jamieson, Gooding, Calder, O’Grady & Uptigrove led the team with 3 hits apiece, with Meyer & MacLeod collecting 2 each, McGrath & Zac Boertien chipped in with 1 each.

With the win the locals would head into Sunday as 1 of the 4 teams remaining but a large task at hand as they faced the undefeated team from Dorchester. Like game 1 it would be the dominate pitching of Calder that would be the story as he held Dorchester to 7 hits over 6-2/3 innings while striking out 8, allowing no runs. Offensively it sounds like a broken record but the hits (14 of them) were spread throughout the line-up with everyone picking up at least 1 hit. This receipt was perfect as the Legionaries won 7-1, now leaving 3 teams vying for the title. A flip of a coin may have proved to be the biggest play of day as it gave the local lads a bye to the final.

In the final the Listowel would again face Corunna, with the winner taking the title. This game was a great game with a few lead changes, timely hitting, solid defence & excellent pitching. MacLeod may have saved the best pitching of his young career for this game. He scattered 12 hits over a complete 7 inning game, but the key was he walked none which allowed is defence to make play after play. The 4^th inning was key for the hometown boys as they scored 4 times thus taking a led they would not relinquish. Corunna pressed to tie the game in both the 6^th & 7^th inning but when the dust settled Listowel would win 7-6 thus capturing the OBA Peewee D title.