Carp I4C Victory Reaches Semi-Finals of 2nd Annual Ottawa Blitz Tournament
from Shawn Williams
The Carp I4C Victory were once again left at the church doors and didn’t quite make it to the altar. For the fourth time this season, the second year club made it to the semi-finals of a tournament. The team had previously reached the semis in the Kingston Cowboys tournament, the Jim Bradford Classic and Au Sable Forks Classic of Upstate New York. The same held true for Carp on the weekend of July 27-29.
The team started off with a 5-1 win on Friday night over the Markham Majors highlighted by a two run blast off the bat of Matt McNish that landed in the food and beverage tent in left centrefield.
On Saturday, under cloudy and wet conditions at the start of the day, the bats were just not quite going for Carp and they played to a 2-2 tie with the Central Bramalea Lumberjacks junior team a club that Carp faced twice in tournament play in 2006 in the Blitz Tournament and in the Newboro Tournament. Trevor Wood pitched a strong game for Carp giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits, walking none and striking out 10. Mike Money led the way for Carp at the plate going 2-4 with a single, a triple and an RBI while Eric Colvin was 1-3 with a run scored. Al Read contributed with an RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. The Bramalea pitchers combined for a four hitter with Adam Smith getting the tie. The tandem gave up two earned runs, walked one, had one hit batter and struck out six. Carp left six runners on base including a runner at third in the bottom of the seventh.
Carp struggled at the plate in its next game against the Napanee Express Juniors and lost by the run ahead rule of six after five, losing 6-0. The Victory only managed four hits of off Napanee starter, Jordan McDonald while giving up eight to the Express including a two run home run off of the bat of Andrew Wemp. Andy Madden was 2-2 for Napnaee with two runs scored. Paul Ceppi took the loss for Carp with relief from Neil Cooke. The loss gave Carp a record of 1-1-1 and second place in its division and a spot in the playoffs on Sunday.
The first game of the day had Carp playing the Scarborough Royals Juniors, a team that Carp tournament player, Chad Hargrove played for at the Ontario Junior Men’s Eliminations.
Carp jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a one out single from Matt McNish. Then with two out, Trevor Wood walked and that was followed by a Kyle Gourgon double scoring McNish and Wood. Al Read followed with an RBI single to score Gourgon. Scarborough got one back in the bottom of the fourth but Carp added an insurance run in the sixth when McNish singled and advanced to second and was brought home on a Mike Branchaud RBI single making the final score 4-1 Carp.
McNish was 2-3 with two runs scored, while Gourgon was 1-3 with 2 RBIs. For the Royals, Smith was 2-4 with a single and a triple while Trude was 2-3 with a run scored.
Neil Cooke had the win for Carp. The red-headed right-hander gave up a single run on six hits, he walked three and struck out 12. Andy Skelton had the loss for Scarborough giving up four runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out four.
The win set up a re-match of the previous evening’s opponent, the Napanee Express. In this game, Express shortstop, Chris Lewis would get things going early. Leading off in the top of the first, Lewis bunted and reached second on what was scored as a single with an error to Carp pitcher Neil Cooke however, nobody was covering the bag at first on what would have been a perfect throw from the right hander. Unfortunately for Cooke with nobody at first, the ball rolled into foul territory allowing Lewis to move to second. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout of Ben Tee, one of three Cooke had on Tee on this day, Lewis was driven in with a single to make it 1-0 Napanee. In the bottom of the fifth, Madden led off with a single for Napanee and after Cooke got Andrew Wemp to pop out to catcher, Shawn Houle and then struck out Napanee catcher, Mack, Lewis was back to the plate. He hit a ball that was at the top of the zone out of the park and the score was now 3-0 for Napanee. In the bottom of the seventh, Carp tried to rally. Trevor Wood singled to lead things off and Kyle Gourgon’s speed caused the second baseman to hurry the throw to first and he threw it away putting runners at first and second with nobody out. With Al read a the plate, he hit a little flare to the second base area and a diving catch by Lewis that ended up in a cloud of dust had Read out and Wood caught in no man’s land and he was doubled off. But Carp did not give up. Pete Pettit was next up and he singled moving Gourgon to third. Carp, Head Coach and General Manager, Shawn Williams then had Russ Mitchell pinch run for Pettit and Mike Money stepped to the plate. With two strikes on Money, Williams made a decision that he would later regret sending Mitchell to second on a steal where he was thrown out and the Carp coach had run his team out of the game.
On the weekend, the Victory finished with a record of 2-2-1. The team continues to prepare for the ISC II Tournament of Champions being held August 14-18 in Kitchener and Cambridge , Ontario .
The Carp I4C Victory were once again left at the church doors and didn’t quite make it to the altar. For the fourth time this season, the second year club made it to the semi-finals of a tournament. The team had previously reached the semis in the Kingston Cowboys tournament, the Jim Bradford Classic and Au Sable Forks Classic of Upstate New York. The same held true for Carp on the weekend of July 27-29.
The team started off with a 5-1 win on Friday night over the Markham Majors highlighted by a two run blast off the bat of Matt McNish that landed in the food and beverage tent in left centrefield.
On Saturday, under cloudy and wet conditions at the start of the day, the bats were just not quite going for Carp and they played to a 2-2 tie with the Central Bramalea Lumberjacks junior team a club that Carp faced twice in tournament play in 2006 in the Blitz Tournament and in the Newboro Tournament. Trevor Wood pitched a strong game for Carp giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits, walking none and striking out 10. Mike Money led the way for Carp at the plate going 2-4 with a single, a triple and an RBI while Eric Colvin was 1-3 with a run scored. Al Read contributed with an RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. The Bramalea pitchers combined for a four hitter with Adam Smith getting the tie. The tandem gave up two earned runs, walked one, had one hit batter and struck out six. Carp left six runners on base including a runner at third in the bottom of the seventh.
Carp struggled at the plate in its next game against the Napanee Express Juniors and lost by the run ahead rule of six after five, losing 6-0. The Victory only managed four hits of off Napanee starter, Jordan McDonald while giving up eight to the Express including a two run home run off of the bat of Andrew Wemp. Andy Madden was 2-2 for Napnaee with two runs scored. Paul Ceppi took the loss for Carp with relief from Neil Cooke. The loss gave Carp a record of 1-1-1 and second place in its division and a spot in the playoffs on Sunday.
The first game of the day had Carp playing the Scarborough Royals Juniors, a team that Carp tournament player, Chad Hargrove played for at the Ontario Junior Men’s Eliminations.
Carp jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a one out single from Matt McNish. Then with two out, Trevor Wood walked and that was followed by a Kyle Gourgon double scoring McNish and Wood. Al Read followed with an RBI single to score Gourgon. Scarborough got one back in the bottom of the fourth but Carp added an insurance run in the sixth when McNish singled and advanced to second and was brought home on a Mike Branchaud RBI single making the final score 4-1 Carp.
McNish was 2-3 with two runs scored, while Gourgon was 1-3 with 2 RBIs. For the Royals, Smith was 2-4 with a single and a triple while Trude was 2-3 with a run scored.
Neil Cooke had the win for Carp. The red-headed right-hander gave up a single run on six hits, he walked three and struck out 12. Andy Skelton had the loss for Scarborough giving up four runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out four.
The win set up a re-match of the previous evening’s opponent, the Napanee Express. In this game, Express shortstop, Chris Lewis would get things going early. Leading off in the top of the first, Lewis bunted and reached second on what was scored as a single with an error to Carp pitcher Neil Cooke however, nobody was covering the bag at first on what would have been a perfect throw from the right hander. Unfortunately for Cooke with nobody at first, the ball rolled into foul territory allowing Lewis to move to second. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout of Ben Tee, one of three Cooke had on Tee on this day, Lewis was driven in with a single to make it 1-0 Napanee. In the bottom of the fifth, Madden led off with a single for Napanee and after Cooke got Andrew Wemp to pop out to catcher, Shawn Houle and then struck out Napanee catcher, Mack, Lewis was back to the plate. He hit a ball that was at the top of the zone out of the park and the score was now 3-0 for Napanee. In the bottom of the seventh, Carp tried to rally. Trevor Wood singled to lead things off and Kyle Gourgon’s speed caused the second baseman to hurry the throw to first and he threw it away putting runners at first and second with nobody out. With Al read a the plate, he hit a little flare to the second base area and a diving catch by Lewis that ended up in a cloud of dust had Read out and Wood caught in no man’s land and he was doubled off. But Carp did not give up. Pete Pettit was next up and he singled moving Gourgon to third. Carp, Head Coach and General Manager, Shawn Williams then had Russ Mitchell pinch run for Pettit and Mike Money stepped to the plate. With two strikes on Money, Williams made a decision that he would later regret sending Mitchell to second on a steal where he was thrown out and the Carp coach had run his team out of the game.
On the weekend, the Victory finished with a record of 2-2-1. The team continues to prepare for the ISC II Tournament of Champions being held August 14-18 in Kitchener and Cambridge , Ontario .
posted by fitzroyfastball | 8/04/2007 12:30:00 pm
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