Lyn Lightning Capture Silver in Eastern Canadian U16 Men's Fastpitch Championships

from Dave Kelly

The weather was perfect in St. Croix, Nova Scotia from August 27th-30th, but that didn't stop Lightning from striking.

The Lyn Lightning U16 Boy's fastpitch team travelled 14 hours to the small Maritime community of St. Croix (nestled along the coastline of the Bay of Fundy) as one of two representatives of the province of Ontario in the Eastern Canadian Fastpitch Championships. Nine teams in total competed in the championships including a Newfoundland squad who finished fourth in the recently completed Canadian National Championships in Saskatchewan and a Nova Scotian team that ended up in fifth at that same tournament.

As luck would have it, these two elite teams were Lyn's first opponents in pool play. In their first match on Thursday evening, the Lightning spotted the host team West Hants (Nova Scotia) Thunder a two run lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning. The Thunder include two players who were selected for All Canadian Awards in pitcher (Anthony Anderson) and shortstop (Brenden Walker). Although Anderson was able to stifle the Lyn bats until the fifth inning, eventually the electricity returned to the Lightning attack as they scored four runs on six sharply stroked hits including a game tying triple by shortstop James Martell followed closely by the game winning single by pinch hitter Matt Berry. The Lightning tacked on a insurance run when second basemen Austin Blanchard singled home Berry. Lyn starter (Michael Shane) closed the door in the top of the seventh and the game ended 4-2 in favour of the Lightning.

On Friday morning, the Lightning faced the heavily favoured Newfoundland #1 Eastbound Speedway (from Labrador). Unlike their first game of the tournament, the Lightning went to work early in this contest scoring two runs in the first and adding an additional two by the end of the third to take a 4-1 lead into the fifth. A crucial double play turned by the Lightning infield trounced a potential rally (and the spirit) of the Newfoundland team. The Lightning went on to add three more runs and finished with a 7-1 victory.

In their second pool match Friday night, the Lightning played the St. Andrews Chiefs (Antigonish County, Nova Scotia). Tom Hanna took the mound for the Lightning in this game, and kept the Chiefs guessing with his assortment of off speed pitches. The score remained tight (4-3) until the top of the fourth when the Lightning exploded for five runs in a bat around inning to take a commanding 9-3 lead. They tacked five more runs on the next inning and the game ended in a mercy, 14-3.

On Saturday morning, the Lightning faced the Taymouth Tigers (a settlement in central New Brunswick). Richard Carson, a left-handed pitcher from Hopeville that Lyn added to the team for this tournament was given the task of caging the Tigers and that he did. Carson threw a no-hitter in the 8-0 Lightning victory that ended in a mercy after the fifth inning. The Tigers had chances, as several runners reached the bases on walks and hit by pitches, but the Lightning defence turned three double plays that helped to corral any Tiger attacks.

With the victory, the Lightning finished first in their pool and awaited the first place team in the other pool for their second game Saturday evening. The winner of this match would move directly to the championship game on Sunday afternoon. The loser of this game would have to play their way into the championship.

As it turned out, the Colchester Royals (a community situated outside of Truro, Nova Scotia) would be the Lightning's competitor for this crucial game. Unlike the previous three games, the Lightning found themselves down three to the Royals at the end of the first inning. A couple of hard hit balls and some uncharacteristic sloppy defence helped to put Lyn into this deficit. Luckily, the Lightning bats were up to the task to help mount a comeback. Third baseman, Jack Wilson started the rally in the bottom of the second with a single that scored two runs to close the gap. In the third, catcher Connor Kelly lead off with a triple and scored on a Martell double to square the match at three. Martell would later score when designated hitter Ethan Jackson singled to right center and the Lightning captured their first lead. Later in the same inning Blanchard hit a fly ball to left field that was misplayed by the Royal outfielder that allowed two more Lightning players to come around and increased the lead to 6-3. Colchester, sensing the urgency of this match battled back with three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game at six apiece. After shutting the Lightning down in the bottom of the sixth, controversy broke out in the top of the seventh. With two out and runners on first and second, the Royals tried a surprise delayed steal of third after a missed bunt attempt. Lightning catcher Kelly gunned a throw to shortstop Martell who was covering the bag and he managed to get the tag down on a very close call. The tense atmosphere of the game coupled with the controversy of the call lead to an emotional outburst from the Royals fans, coaches and players. Unfortunately, one of the players was ejected in the melee and having already used all of their substitutions, the Royals were down to eight players forcing them to disqualify the match. The chaotic end to the game meant that Lyn was awarded a direct entry into Sunday's championship.

In the championship game, Lyn would face their arch rival from Ontario, the Napanee Express. Napanee had lost to Colchester earlier in the tournament and finished second in their pool of teams. This meant the Express had to face the unenviable task of playing three games on Sunday to win the tournament. To their credit, Napanee put it all together when needed and earned their way to the final despite the odds stacked against them. This set up a final between the two Eastern Ontario representative teams that had split seven previous matches throughout the summer.

The Lightning sprinted out to an early 1-0 lead when Kelly scored from second on an error by the Express left fielder. Napanee answered quickly when right fielder Cam Ness crushed a homerun to center off Lightning starter Michael Shane. The Express added two more to their total in the third when third basemen Jason McCracken smashed a homerun off a light post in right center field. The Lightning were never able to mount any momentum against Napanee's ace pitcher Riley Manion (later named the tournament's top pitcher) and the Express finished with a 6-1 victory and claimed the gold medal.

In the award ceremony following the championship match, Lyn shortstop James Martell was honoured with the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament Award.

The Lyn Lightning left St. Croix with much more than a hard fought silver medal. They got the opportunity to play a sport they love, explore a beautiful part of our amazing country, but more importantly they solidified memories and friendships that should last them a lifetime.

The Lyn Lightning U16 Boy's Fastpitch team would like to thank all of our sponsors who generously donated to our dream of playing in this tournament and representing our province. Special thanks to Shelley Blanchard and Nichole Jackson for managing our finances and affairs, but most importantly a sincere, heartfelt thank you to our head coach, Mark Blanchard who's vision and passion lead to the creation of the Lyn Lightning rep team and pursuit of this entire Maritime endeavour. 

Front Row (left to right): Austin Johnson, Michael Shane, Ethan Jackson, Matt Berry, Tommy Smith

Back Row: Dave Kelly (assistant coach), Mark Blanchard (head coach), Austin Blanchard, Connor Kelly, Tom Hanna, Jack Wilson, Richard Carson, Tim Wilson (assistant coach), John Mather (assistant coach)