West Carleton wins 12-11 in barnburner over Valley

Suffice it to say, the 2022 version of the Harbour Days Classic was, indeed, a classic game. West Carleton Electric, after leading all game, gave up the lead in the top of the seventh to the Ottawa Valley As, but won the game in the bottom of this Greater Ottawa Fastball League match up on Thursday night in Fitzroy.

The game was played in front of a decent - and well lubricated - crowd on a beautiful July evening to kick of the annual summer festival in the Harbour, with WC prevailing 12-11 over the As.

Gabe Brown was the winning pitcher with 2/3 of an inning of action in relief of Steve Cavanagh. Adam Rueckwald took the loss in relief of Ben Broek.

The Electric jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first. Chris Costello walked with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Mike Cavanagh single. Hugh Murray's two run shot made it 3-0 for the Trics.

Valley responded, putting three runs of their own up in the top of the second. Sean Lecuyer singled, Owen Arsenault doubled and Austin McCord tripled to score two, then a misplayed ground ball evened the score.

Not to be outdone, WC put up three in the bottom of the second. Conner Hopper singled to start things off, and he scored on Jeff Campbell's triple. Campbell scored on Owen Brown's ground out. Costello hit a solo shot to make it 6-3 for Fitzroy.

The 'Trics made it 7-3 in the third. Neil Murphy singled with one out and scored later in the inning on an infield error.

The As got one back in the fourth. Benny Wade singled with two out, stole second, and scored when Ben Broek tripled.

West Carleton put up another three run inning in the bottom of four after Broek gave way to Rueckwald on the pitching slab. Trevor Barton led off with a single, then Costello singled, and Mike Cavanagh bunted. When the ball was thrown away, two scored. Mikey Cav scored later in the inning on Murphy's sac fly to right field.

In the fifth for the As, Lecuyer reached on an error then scored on an Arseneault single to make it 10-5.

The final half of the fifth saw Campbell hit a ground rule double, take third on a ground out and score on Barton's sac fly to left.

Valley put across two in the top of the sixth. Wade hit a sharp ball to left, which was hard to handle and he ended up scoring inside the park. Immediately after, Broek's solo homer make the score tighter at 11-7.

When the home team was held scoreless in the bottom of the sixth frame, Valley needed to score at least four to keep the game going in the top of the seventh, and they did. Both Aresenault and McCord walked. Connor Armstrong scorched a ball deep to short, which was kept in the infield but loaded the bases with none out. A ground ball resulted in a fielder's choice out at home. Wade's double then scored two and later on a hard hit ball by Ryley Burns scored two more to tie the score at 11, after which Gabe Brown came in to finish the game as he recorded the final two outs.

It was the bottom of the seventh. Rueckwald got a strikeout and a pop up to the pitcher, bringing lead off batter Barton to the plate. Barton's solo shot made the final 12-11 to end things - after which both teams met up in the beer garden.