Minor Rookie Spartans Take 2nd in La Salle
What started off as a flat, road weary loss on Friday to the host La Salle Titans turned into an exciting Saturday and Sunday for the Minor Rookie Spartans who took home Second Place at the Turtle Club Baseball Green and Gold Classic in La Salle ON.
The bats coming alive and big defensive plays on Saturday propelled the Spartans to big wins over Vaughn and Waterloo, out scoring our opponents 28-8. This set the stage for our first semi final of the season against the Belle River Braves, which the boys won in convincing fashion 17-9, advancing the team to a rematch with the host La Salle Titans in the tournament finals.
The Titans got off to a quick start, piling up some runs early, but the Spartans, "If you don't like it, play better" attitude kicked in and the bats started booming again, keeping La Salle on their toes. In the end, the Spartans ran out of time, losing an exciting game 17-9 in 7 innings. The loss didn't matter as the team was all smiles receiving their first medals of the season, and a huge confidence boost heading into the EOBA and OBA Championships.
Way to Go Minor Rookie Spartans!!
Photo Left to Right:
Back row: Dave Falardeau, Jason McKittrick, John Phillips, Mike Barbara
Middle row: Marcus Bennett, Mekhi Dwyer, Sawyer Falardeau, Austin Rixen, Luke Barbara
Bottom row: Korbin Greaves, Eric Desaulniers, Seamus McKittrick, Kayo Martin
In Front: Calum Tessier
Absent: Kenady Guillot, Aaron Thom
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Ajax Spartans Bantam Elite win tournament in Michigan
The Ajax Spartans Bantam Elite team went down to Michigan over the weekend to come back with the trophy. They beat a very good 5 Tool Baseball team in the final game at Theunissen Stadium of Central Michigan University in a near flawless game 2 - 1.
The team started off slow in their first game of the round robin, falling behind 7-1 against last year's winners, Capital City Kings. Things started to turn around by the 4th inning. A couple of timely hits, excellent defense and solid pitching brought the team back to 7 - 4 going into the bottom of the 7th. We quickly loaded the bases and Tyler West brought in our first run on a ground out. With two outs Kai Hoek drove the first pitch he saw into left field to score two more. Next up was Landon Bentley, who immediately followed that up with a base hit into right, scoring Justin Carinci and Kai for the walk off win.
This gave the team enormous momentum going into the second game. Playing perfect baseball, the team defeated the Phantom Baseball Team 8 - 0. Michael Asselin and Max Stewart combined for a 1 hit shut out, striking out 5, giving up 1 hit, with only 2 walks. Great pitching from those two.
Next up was the 5 Tool Baseball 15U team. The game was a pitching duel. Both Colby Anderson and the opposing pitcher went the distance. Colby struck out 2, walked none and gave up just 2 runs. Amazing performance. Unfortunately the team could only deliver one run on three hits, as they lost a close game 2 - 1.
The record in pool play gave us the bye going into the play offs, where we ended up facing the Phantom Baseball team for the second time. Phantom quickly jumped ahead 2 - 0 in the top of the first, but after going through our entire batting order in the bottom of the first, we scored 10 to put this game out of reach right away. Final 15 - 2.
The final was played in the Central Michigan University Stadium. On the other side of the bracket, 5 Tool Baseball had managed to get by the undefeated Detroit Crush team to face us. The game became a carbon copy of the first time the teams faced each other. Great pitching, excellent defense, timely hitting and lots of hustle. Landon Bentley was on the mount for Ajax, pitching an absolute gem for 5 innings. He struck out 6, walked just 1 and gave up 1 run. What a performance. Mitch Ireland came on in the six for the save, pitching 2 clean innings. Behind the plate, Ethan Boisvert was flawless, with no passed balls over 7 innings and not allowing a single steal all game. Charlie Luukkonen continued to swing a hot bat, going 2 for 2.
The game went back and forth with neither team giving in. Stellar defence in the outfield by centerfielder Jorgen Groves kept Ajax in the game. 5 Tool went up 1 - 0 in the top of the third, but Ajax mounted their comeback in the bottom of the 5th. Landon led off with a single to right, Cam Noble walked and Wyatt Groves advanced the runners with a massive blast to center. Landon then took advantage of a throwing error by the opposing short stop to score the first run. Next up was Cameron Lugtenburg, who hit a perfect ground ball to score Cam for the winning run.
Back row: Martyn Hoek, Mike Asselin, Charlie Luukkonen, Landon Bentley, Max Stewart, Mitch Ireland, Kai Hoek, Cam Lugtenburg, Jack Bentley, Cam Noble, Andy Luukkonen
Middle row: Ethan Boisvert, Tyler West, Wyatt Groves, Michael Asselin, Colby Anderson
Front row: Jorgen Groves, Justin Carinci
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Congratulations to the Rookie Ajax Spartans for being finalists in the Simcoe Minor Baseball Association tournament this past weekend. Placing second out of 20 teams, the Spartans faced tough competition from the Bloordale Bombers in the championship game.
Playing with only nine players the Spartans won four of their six games. In a tournament that included numerous rain delays the Spartans began their weekend with a 20-8 victory over the hometown team. Saturday brought their first loss to Bloordale but they finished the day with a shut out versus Vaughan. After a win in the quarter finals against the previously undefeated Clarington Orioles, the boys rallied for a walk-off against North London in the semi-finals.
Congratulations to all the players and coaches!
Back Row – Dave Murray, James MacRae, Herb Saunders, Justin McCawley
3rd Row – Nate MacRae, Nathan Crozier, Christion Perez
2nd Row – Jaxon Dookie, Calum Murray, Lucas McCawley, Callum Blake, Wesley Saunders
Front Row – Sammy Lappano, Jeremy Warman, Matthew Higgins-Bellows
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Minor Mosquito Spartams
Spartans! Spartans! Spartans!
Congrats Boys ... On winning your first tournament in convincing fashion!
We opened the round robin with a loss to Vaughan 10-8 Friday night. Saturday morning we faced Newmarket, scratching and clawing our was to a nail biting 12-11 victory.
The stage was set for the 2nd game Saturday against the 2-0 undefeated Barrie Red Sox. In a back and forth affair with a solid pitching and defensive performance, the Spartans of Ajax prevailed 10-5.
The Round Robin completed with Barrie, Ajax and Vaughan all finishing with a 2-1 record. The semi finals were set, Ajax would face the team that beat them Friday night .... Vaughan.
Sunday morning .... not a cloud in the sky, in a win or go home situation, our Spartans would take a 5-0 first inning lead and not look back, defeating Vaughan 16-0 in a 3 inning mercy limit game. Pumped up and ready to go, confident they could beat Barrie for a second time, providing they played their game.
Scoring quick and early, it wasn't long before Ajax was up 6-0. However, Barrie wouldn't quit and were determined to give Ajax a run, pulling within 3, end of the third inning and we had a 6-3 game. Barrie would do more damage in the 4th and we had ourselves a one run game, Ajax leading 7-6. Ajax knew this was it, if they didn't step on the gas and take it to Barrie now, they may lose this one opportunity. And so they did.... Adding another 5 runs over the next two innings, up 12-6 and regaining some cushion, but Barrie would once again battle back and score 4 in the bottom of 6, and just like that, it was 12-10.
Top of the 7th and final inning, dark clouds looming, Ajax up to bat and a rare scoreless inning, it was now time to protect the lead for the last and final time. The task difficult enough under normal situations, made even tougher as the rain started to fall in buckets! TJ on the mound, strike after strike, and just like that, WE ARE THE CHAMPS!
Back Row: Stewart Kerr, Sam Dwyer
Middle Row: Evan Fortner, Ryan Brijmohan, Brandon Prevost, Ryan Bongelli, Dom Kerr, Dante Fraser, Marley Beadle, Tyler Spurrell
Front Row: Jarrell Dwyer, T.J. Antalan, Nicholas Calderaro, Cole Gauthier
Congrats again Spartans!