The London West Tincaps 13u team traveled to Ajax for the August long weekend and returned with some hardware for their efforts.
The Friday night game under the lights at the beautiful Pan Am diamonds vs an outmatched Ajax Minor team kicked off the weekend. Crispy Chicken (aka Eggie) went yard as the Tincaps 13u pitchers combined to no-hit their opponent in a 14-0 shellacking.
In their first game Saturday the Tincaps faced the Royal York Cardinals in a hotly contested game. The bats fell silent to start the game, but the Tincaps held the Cardinals close - hoping the bats would come alive. After a few misjudgments on rule applications as suggested by the opposing coaches, the umpires settled down to call a good game - while keeping the emotional fans in check throughout the process. This game was not one of the best played by the Tincaps 13u, as they tried to come back - but ended up falling to Royal York by a score of 7-5.
This put the fate of making Sunday's semi-finals squarely on the back of the boys, as they were hoping for a rematch vs Royal York in the playoff round. They needed a strong defensive effort and win over the Markham Mariners Saturday evening in their final round robin game to have any chance of securing a playoff spot. And the players did not disappoint.
The Tincaps 13u took advantage of some shaky defense from their opposition early, who committed 8 errors in the contest and participated in several Tincaps-initiated snowball fights. This allowed the boys to play strong behind a solid pitching performance by Nate B - as the Tincaps walked-off the Mariners 10-0 in five innings. This ensured their runs-against ratio clinched the 4th seed in the playoff match ups - slated for Sunday morning.
In Sunday's semi-final vs the previously undefeated North Toronto A's, the boys came out slowly once again. They gave up two runs in the top of the first, but responded with one run of their own in the bottom - and that's where it stood in the well-played defensive battle until late in the game. Again the boys tried to keep the game close, hoping their bats would finally wake up. After tying the game in the bottom of the 6th on a sac fly to centrefield by Crispy, Hammer (aka Roman S) stepped to the plate and launched a 2-run jack to centre that put the Tincaps up 4-2 heading to the 7th. LVD took the mound and shut the door on North Toronto in a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to propel the boys into the final!
Unfortunately the boys didn't get the matchup they were looking for in the final - as Royal York collapsed and bowed out to an underestimated Ajax Major team in the other semi-final. Maybe next time.....
In the final, the Tincaps 13u left nothing to doubt as they played a solid defensive game behind a great pitching performance by Hammer, and opened it up late in a 14-0 win over a well coached and classy Ajax Spartans team.
Thanks to Ajax for hosting a well run tournament at a top-notch facility. We look forward to returning again in the future.
Congrats boys - you earned this one yourselves!
