Carp I4C Victory at the Jim Bradford: Report

from Shawn Williams
Carp I4C Victory Goes 2-2 at Jim Bradford Classic Tournament in Grafton
Team Loses 2-0 in Semi-finals to Peterborough Rickart Pros

Ottawa Team Easton Thunder Wins Tournament with a 6-5 Victory over Peterborough in the Final.

Short a few bodies because of previous commitments, the Carp I4C Victory headed to Grafton, Ontario this past weekend to play in the Jim Bradford Classic. The tournament is named in memory of long-time Softball Ontario Instructor/Evaluator, Jim Bradford who was from the area.

With a field of ten teams, the Victory was in a division that included, Oshawa BB Jrs., Napanee Midgets, Peterborough Cavanagh Disposals with the legendary Darren Zack pitching for them on the weekend and Elkland, PA.

The round robin format had Carp facing off against Oshawa in its first game of the tournament. Paul Ceppi took to the mound for the start of the game and gave up one run in the top of the first before coming out of the game because of a nagging hip injury. He was replaced by Neil Cooke who completed the game. Carp responded in the bottom of the third with two runs to go on top 2-1, but in the top of the fifth, a home run by Matt Davis had Oshawa back in the lead, 3-2. Carp got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Matt McNish singled and was eventually driven in on a single off the bat of Mike Money who was 3-3 in the game. This set up a dramatic bottom of the seventh when Casey Poldervaart hit a pinch hit single and was then replaced by Joel Langford who re-entered the game. Kyle Gourgon sacrificed Langford to second and then he was driven in for the winning run on a single by Shawn Houle. Final score, 4-3 Carp.

In the second game of the day against the Napanee Express Midgets, one of the top Midget teams in Canada, the drama continued. Already up 2-0 after scoring two in the top of the first, the Express took a commanding 4-0 lead in the third when Ryan Wager hit a two out, two run blast. It looked as if Napanee was in complete control but I4C countered in the bottom of the fourth with three runs of its own to get back in the game highlighted by a two RBI double from Chad Hargrove. Napanee put one more on the board in the sixth to make the score 5-3 heading into the last inning. Then in the bottom of the seventh with Brooks in for Napanee starter, Luke Leahy, Poldervaart started the inning with a single and stole second base. After Langford popped out to second, Money singled to make the score 5-4 as Poldervaart came in to score. That was followed by a single from Kyle Gourgon putting runners on the corners. Steve McLaughlin struck out for the second out of the inning and then Matt McNish drew a walk to load the basis. Darren Featherstone, picked up by Carp from the Stittsville 56ers for the weekend, stepped to the plate and singled to score two more runs and make the final score 6-5 for Carp.

Carp went on to immediately play Peterborough Cavanagh Disposals led by Zack, the legendary fastball great. The combination of back to back games, the emotionally draining win over Napanee and being a little star struck facing a pitcher with Zack’s reputation led to a 1-0 loss for I4C and 15 strikeouts for “Big Zee”. Hargrove had a great experience facing Zack going 2-3 against the larger than life pitcher and Al Read hit a double however that was all the offence Carp could muster in this game.

Going into Sunday morning’s game against Elkland, Carp was guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals. Both Elkland and Carp would advance despite which team would win this game. With Greg Garrity pitching for Elkland, Carp never got on track. Elkland jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first on a lead off walk issued by Hargrove to Brian Miller. That was followed by a well placed bunt that made its way into shallow left field putting runners at second and third. Then a single by Garrity scored two and an error in right field on a ball hit high and deep resulted in Garrity scoring all the way from first. A big home run off the bat of John Dry made it 5-0 for Elkland after three. Garrity ran into control problems in the fourth walking three in a row to start the inning with nobody out. Then after consecutive strikeouts, he walked Brooks Paziuk forcing in McLaughlin from third for Carp’s first run of the game. Carp threatened again in the sixth when with one out Gourgon singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Read then struck out, followed by a walk to Paziuk. A single by Langford scored Gourgon to make it 5-2 and with runners on the corners and two out, Money hit a ball to deep centre field but just not enough to take it out of the park and score three runs. The loss left Carp at 2-2 but good enough for second place in the B Pool and a trip to the semis.

In the semi-final game against the Peterborough Rickart Pros, who had finished first in Pool A, Wayne Wells took to the rubber. The veteran thrower was on his game and mowed down one Carp batter after another. For the second time this year, the Victory lost via a perfect game as Wells faced the minimum of 21 Carp batters, striking out 16. Neil Cooke threw a masterful game despite being tagged with the loss. The burly redheaded right hander gave up only four hits and one earned run while striking out eight.

Congratulations are in order for fellow league team, Ottawa Team Easton Thunder who won the tournament going 3-1 in the round robin and then defeated Elkland in the semi-final game and then finished with an exciting 6-5 win in the final over the Rickart Pros in a game that was back and forth and ended with a dramatic strikeout by Jeff Murphy of the Thunder with the tying run at third.

Carp’s next game is Tuesday, June 12th at 8:45 PM vs. Fitzroy Harbour West Carleton Electric. Please note the later start time for this game. Carp’s next home game is Thursday. June 14th versus last year’s expansion Greater Ottawa Fastball League (GOFL) cousins, the Ottawa Blitz. Game time is 8:30 PM at the Carp Fairgrounds. Admission to all games is free.