U16 Stittsville 56ers to Represent Ontario at the Eastern Canadian Championships

 

 

 

The Stittsville 56ers u16 Tier II team placed third this past weekend at the PWSA “A” Bantam Provincials, earning themselves a place in the Eastern Canadian Championships as Ontario 3. The tournament will take place August 22-25, 2019 in Whitby.

 

The 56ers are sponsored by Platinum Sponsor Sleepwell Property Management as well as by Beans Chevrolet, Ken White Construction, Upper Canada Elevators, the BLG Foundation, lawyer Larry Elliot, Ram Electric, Shouldice Mechanical, Ottawa-Nepean Canadians Sports Club, Kanata Sports Club and the Water Depot.

 

On Thursday night the 56ers started off the round robin tournament with a 10-0 run rule win over the Kawartha Lakers. Sydney Watts pitched a complete game shut out, giving up only one hit and one walk in five innings. The 56ers scattered nine hits in the game, led by Avery Smith (two hits, one walk, two RBIs and two runs scored) and MacKenzie Bresee (three hits, one run and an RBI). Six different 56er players had hits in the game, leading to a well-balanced attack. The 56ers also had no defensive errors in the game.

 

The 56ers next faced the Springfield Brewers, the 2018 PWSA “A” Provincial Champions, on Friday morning. The 56ers needed a win in this game to guarantee themselves a spot in the playoff round. The 56ers gained an early 4-0 lead over the Brewers before allowing 4 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and 2 runs in the bottom of the 5^th inning to fall behind 6-4. The 56ers would come from behind with three runs in the 6^th inning and one in the 7^th inning to win the game 8-6. Watts started the game fort he 56ers going five strong inning before being relieved by Jordyn LeBoutiliier who closed out the game in the 6^th and 7^th inning. Smith and Emmy Lecour each had three hits in the game, while Alison Roach and Kate Parks each had two RBIs. Again, six different 56ers had at least one hit in this important game.

 

On Saturday morning, the 56ers had their last game of the round robin against Brampton. Brampton scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, leaving an early mountain for the 56ers to climb back from. The 56ers would score once in the second, once in the sixth and twice in the top of the seventh, coming just shy of the comeback in a 5-4 loss. LeBoutillier pitched very well going the full game and giving up only one earned run in the loss. Delaney Johnston had two hits and a run scored for the 56ers, Bresee had a double and an RBI and Lecour contributed offensively with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. The loss earned the 56ers second place in their pool.

 

After a short break the 56ers had their first playoff game against the Palmerston Marlins. The 56ers needed to win against the Marlins and another team to be determined to earn a medal in the tournament and a potential berth to the Eastern Canadian Championships. In an unbelievable offensive performance, the 56ers scored 14 runs off of 20 hits to defeat the Marlins 14-4 in five innings. Eight different 56ers had hits in the game. Notable performances included Johnston with three hits, five RBIs and two runs scored, Bresee with three RBIs and two runs scored and Jayde Shouldice who had three RBIs. Watts again pitched a complete game, going five innings with six strike outs and giving up only 1 earned run.

 

Immediately after the win, the 56ers faced the Oakville Angels. The Angels defeated the 56ers by a score of 12-1 at the Qualifier Tournament to send the team to the bronze medal game instead of a chance at gold. The game started close with a score of only 3-0 for the 56ers after three innings. The bats game alive again in the top of the fourth inning when the 56ers scored five runs. After a quick shut down inning on defence, the 56ers scored another five runs in the top of the fifth inning, ending the game due to the run rule in a 13-0 victory. The 56ers had 13 runs scored off of 13 hits, four walks and two Oakville errors. Watts again pitched a complete game for the 56ers, striking out four, walking none and scattering 4 hits. Seven different 56ers had hits in the game, including a homerun by Kate Parks (who had 4 RBIs and a run scored and  a triple by Jayde Shouldice. Johnston had another huge game for the 56ers with two hits, three runs scored and three RBIs.

 

The win over Oakville earned the 56ers a spot in the playoff “undefeated” game against the Aurora Diggers on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the 56ers would lose the game 8-5 (and the coach lost the score sheet for the highlights). Watts and LeBoutillier shared the pitching duties in the game and the 56ers put up a strong performance against a strong Diggers team.  The 56ers had another shot to earn their way back into the gold medal game in a rematch against Brampton immediately following their loss to the Diggers. Brampton would score two runs in the first inning and another two in the top of the fourth. The 56ers battled back in the bottom of the fourth with two runs off a home run by Parks (scoring Johnston). Unfortunately, Brampton would add another run in the top of the fifth and the 56ers fell short of the comeback with a final score of 5-2 Brampton. Brampton would go on to defeat Aurora in the finals for the Provincial Championship.

 

The loss earned the 56ers a bronze in the tournament.  Avery Smith was selected by the Brampton coaching staff as the MVP for the tournament for the 56ers. By winning three games by the “run rule”, the 56ers also earned “triple ice cream” paid for by Coach Erin and Coach Brad. The athletes are very, very excited about the ice cream. If anyone out there owns an ice cream truck, we could give you some business.

 

The third place finish also earned the 56ers a berth to represent Ontario along with Brampton and Aurora (and host team Whitby) at the Eastern Canadian Softball Championships. This is a tremendous accomplishment for the team as the Bantam II division started with 38 teams from across the province. Very few teams from the Ottawa-area have qualified for the Eastern Canadian Championships in recent years and the coaching staff, the SMSA and the local softball community is all very proud of these great athletes.