Smiths Falls Junior B Provincials a success

from Deb Shea

REDMEN ELIMINATED EARLY BUT, TOURNAMENT WEEKEND A HUGE SUCCESS

It wasn't the result the Smiths Falls Madden Hearing Center were looking for at the O.A.S.A. provincial Junior B tournament, but local fastball fans were certainly treated to some fine ball this past weekend at Lower Reach Park. The Smiths Falls club bowed out in three straight games, despite holding leads in the late innings in both of there final two contests.

The tournament opening ceremonies featured the athletes being piped in and speeches from the Mayor Dennis Staples, the O.A.S.A representative, and the Umpire in chief. Mayor Staples presented a certificate from the town the Ray Madden for his years of commitment to the Redmen program. The Redmen played in the opening game of the event on Saturday morning and lost a tight 4-0 decision to the eventual winner from Oshawa. Chris Hall pitched a good game for the locals, But Oshawa scored three unearned runs, including two on an unusual pass ball play to clinch the win. Two of
Oshawa's run came on the same passed ball, the second run being awarded as a result of interference call at the plate.

The Redmen regrouped and played the Atwood Avengers in the second game. Smiths Falls got a three run homer from center fielder Matt Alkerton, and held a two run lead heading in the final inning. About a ball lost in the sun, and a soft fly ball just out of the reach of the infield, lead to a four run rally and Atwood prevailed 8-6.

Smiths Falls was forced to remain on the diamond in the late afternoon heat and play Fingal. The locals stayed right with the pre tournament favorites and took a late inning lead on a three run homer by shortstop Kurt Summers. But again the Redmen were the victim of late inning heroics as Fingal two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to clinch a 10-7 win and eliminate the home team.

Manager Terry Shea said he was proud of his team " we played tough all weekend, and didn't get a lot of breaks. We were short handed for the weekend particularly in the pitching department. We had Andrew Wiggins go down a couple weeks ago with bad ankle and Cory Alkerton had previous commitments to the Team Ontario camp and it would been nice to have both of those guys. But that said, I think Chris Hall and Curtis Hendy gave us good enough pitching to stay with some of the best teams in the province.''

It was a big win for Oshawa who won the gold medal and the championship. The Double B's scored wins over Smiths Falls, Glanworth and Newmarket on Saturday. They claimed first place by beating a scrappy Atwood crew in the final. Atwood proved to be a real fan favourite. After losing there first game on Saturday, Atwood reeled off consecutive wins against Smiths Falls and Toanche on Saturday and Glanworth and Newmarket on Sunday morning before dropping the first game of the final to Oshawa. Newmarket took the bronze medal after losing the semi final to Atwood.

The provincials were preceded by the Redmen Alumni game on Friday night. The game played before a large crowd at the ball park, who witnessed over thirty former great Redmen , turn in good performance to fans. Despite the advancing age of some of players, it was pretty obvious some of these guys still had plenty of game. The group was divided into two evenly matched squads, one coached by Redmen founder Ray Madden and coach Rod Keays . The other managed by Garry Dagliesh and Peter Peckett. No official score was kept, but it was a close contest between Team Madden and Team Beep.

At the end of the weekend the O.A.S.A convener for the area , Ken Naylor praised the organizing committee. He also complimented the town's facilities as a great place for a top notch fastball tournament.

For it's part, the organizing group would like to thank all of the local groups who helped make the weekend a success. Leisure Days R.V. , Hershey Chocolate Canada, Smiths Falls and District Crime Stoppers, ESP, Smiths Falls Firefighters, Angelo's Restaurant and the teams main sponsor Madden Hearing Center.