At the WOBA league championship this past weekend (Aug
15-17) in Exeter the young Peewee boys went undefeated in 5 games on route to
the title. This is the first championship for this group of young men as they
have come up short a couple times earlier, so needless to say they are an
extremely happy with the results from the past weekend.
Game 1 – Friday night -Listowel 15 North Middlesex 1… Blair Johnson got the weekend off on the right foot as he pitched 4 1/3 stellar innings with Nic Hamilton coming in to mop up and securing the 1 hitter. Hitting was plentiful lead by Travis Bannerman with 2 doubles and triple whlile Riley Kuepfer adding a double and a single. Also collecting hits were Johnson, Sam Town, Seth Reading, Keegan Long, and Lucas Baggio. Nic Verbeek, Cody McKechnie and Dylan Coombs all scoring runs in the game as well.
Game 2 Saturday morning Listowel 9 Exeter (1) 3… As expected this was going to be a much tougher test as the local lads faced one of the host teams. Brandon Wall got the start pitching 3 1/3 innings with Nathan Hallman finishing the remaining 2 2/3 innings. As they have all year they both pitched great limiting Exeter to only 3 runs on 5 hits & walking only 1 batter. The game got off to a little rocky start as Exeter struck first but Listowel answered the bell with 3 runs in their half of the 1st then 1 in the 2nd and 4 more in the 3rd on route to the victory. Town, Kuepfer, Hallman each had 2 hits with McKecknie adding 1 then scoring in the 2nd using his great speed.
Game 3 Saturday afternoon Listowel 10 Kincardine Majors 3… The afternoon game would feature the 2 undefeated teams and the Legionnaires would call upon Kuepfer to take the mound. Riley would rise to the occasion as he pitched 3 2/3 innings of no hitter ball, then turned it over to Town who closed out the game. Leading the charge at the plate was Hallman and Kuepfer with 2 hit each, while Johnson, Bannerman, Tyler McLean, and Brandon Wall all added a hit apiece with Wall’s being a bomb over the right fielders head. With the win the local lads would enter in Sunday undefeated meaning they’d have to be beaten twice to be eliminated.
Game 4 Semi- Finals Sunday morning Listowel 7 Exeter (2) 2… Listowel would again face the host squad, all-be-it the other team, but this time they gave the ball to Bannerman who pitched 5 strong innings, with Nic Hamilton closing the door over the last 2. Again it would be the opponent that would strike 1st as Exeter notched a pair in the 1st inning but Listowel would answered right back in our half of the first with 4 runs followed by 2 in the 3rd and an insurance marker in the 4th. Offensively the team was lead by a pair of “out of the park homers” by Kuepfer and Bannerman, while Johnson added a pair of hits and singles went to Bannerman, Town, Hallman, Hamilton, Wall, McLean. With their 4th win and the title in their sights the Legionnaires would again face Kincardine.
Game 5 Final Listowel 4 Kincardine Majors 3... This time the young lads knew they would be in tough as they would face the Kincardine’s ace, who is likely the best pitcher they have seen all year. Blair Johnson would have the task of pitching against the opponents ace and pitch he did, matching him almost pitch for pitch. Both starters would go 5 innings before pitch their pitch count would force them to leave, with Kincardine holding a slim 1-0 lead. In the 6th inning would push across 3 runs mainly due to a triple by Keegan Long who then stole home on a throwing error. Kincardine answered back with 2 in the their half of the 6th knotting the game at 3. Both teams had things started in the 7th but neither could push a run across meaning the game would go into extra innings. In the 8th Hallman would draw a walk, followed by a Bannerman single, and a pass ball would put runners on 2nd & 3rd. Seth Reading lined one back to the pitcher who went to 1st, then a throwing error at 3rd trying to catch Hallman snoozing would allow him to scamper home with go ahead run. Kuepfer would shut the door in the bottom of the 8th giving the Legionnaires the 4-3 victory and the WOBA title.
The teams now hopes to take this momentum into the ICBA tournament next weekend in Brantford then on to the OBA Championships in Port Dover on the Labour Day weekend.
Front Row (L-R) Seth Reading, Brandon Wall Middle Row (L-R) Tyler McLean, Keegan Long, Riley Kuepfer, Nic Hamilton, Blair Johnson, Sam Town, Travis Bannerman, Nic Verbeek, Lucas Baggio Back Row (L-R) Dylan Coombs, Dave Johnson, Dean Wall, Nate Hallman, Cody McKechnie, Jeff Bannerman