OBA winners: Mississauga North, Leamington, Royal York, Woodstock, more
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Baseball Ontario staged 54 championships at 12 different age levels ranging from Minor Rookie in Kitchener to Senior C in Forest.
We have results from a few of the tourney hosts to date ...
Jack Liddell was a two-way man for the Mississauga North Tigers come crunch time.
Liddell was impressive both on the mound and at the plate as the Tigers beat the Oakville A’s 8-4 in the OBA midget final.
He was 2-for-3 in the final game with a two-run double when the score was close early in the game.
Noah Wood-Jolivet had three hits in the final game and stole two bases.
Quinn Finch pitched the last inning of final game.
The Tigers won the 13-man tournament -- Ottawa was a no show causing all kinds of byes -- to become back to back provincial champs winning last year as a 17U team. The Tigers ended their season with a 56-14 record with 10 of the losses coming against teams in higher age brackets.
Brandon Chong, Dylan Weisgerber and Federico Lucius combined for a five-hitter against the Whitby Chiefs in the opening game as Mississauga Southwest. Jalyn Trinidad had two hits. Chong pitched the win.
Next, Wood-Jolivet was close to unhittable taking the mound against the London Badgers and tossing a two-hitter in a 14-0 romp as the Tigers moved to 2-0. Liddell was 4-for-4 against the Badgers with a triple, a double and two singles driving in five. Quinn Finch hit a two run home run, while Brandon Chong had a three-hit game and Trinidad had two hits.
Next, Jeffrey Siemms had a three-hit game against including two doubles in a 9-4 win over the Kitchener Panthers.
Then the Tigers knocked off Thornhill 16-3 and lost 4-3 to Oakville for their first loss. With the game tied at 3-3 in the semifinal, Dylan Weisgerber threw out a runner at the plate trying to tag on a fly ball. Wood-Jolivet pitched.
After a bye, Mississauga North moved on to the final.
Catchers Matt Grabstas, Siemms, and Liddell were 9-for-10 throwing out attempted base stealers in the tourney.
The Tigers, coached by Gary Liddell, Terry McKenzie aand Blair Siemms, scored 59 runs in the six-game provincial tournament as they were led by Liddell who hit .667 (14-for-21) and Weisgerber who batted .454 (10-for-22).
The others Trinidad .533 (8-for-15),Chong .411 (7-17), Jordan Jutzen .400 (8-for-20), Faris Adamou .400 (4-for-10), Wood-Jolivet .385 (5-for-13), Quinn-Finch .316 (6-for-19) and Siemms .308 (4-for-13).
Midget A
At Kitchener, the Stratford WRM Safety Solutions and Consulting Indians knocked off the London Tecumsehs 7-5 in the final as Hayden Moore, named the game’s MVP, doubled and singled.
Brett Denny singled twice and knocked in a pair of runs as Startford took the lead for good in the fourth. Leadoff hitter Tanner Johnson had two more hits to finish the weekend with a .632 average. Nolan Grasby added a run-scoring single in the breakout fourth inning as well. Jordan Keeler pitched the final four innings fanning three taking over for starter Hunter James, who went three innings, allowing two hits, and chipped in with a double.
Stratford opened with a 12-1 win over Pickering as Brock Baier homered, double and single. Keeler singled three times. Kelton Frey needed only 76 pitches in a complete-game as he allowed four hits.
Johnson singled four times and scored four runs in a 10-3 win over Newmarket as Nolan Grasby pitched 6 1/3 innings. He gave up six hits, striking out two and hitting a single. Moore singled twice and picked up the save.
James pitch six innings as the Indians beat Thornhill 7-2. He gave up five hits and one earned run, while fanning six. Johnson, James and Grasby all singled twice.
Next, Moore had two doubles and home run in a 5-2 win over London in a match up of unbeaten teams. Parker Wamboldt was the winner, allowing five hits over five innings. Keeler, who had a double at the plate, was solid in two innings of relief. Dalton Smith added a double.
Frey threw a second complete game a 4-1 win over Windsor putting Stratford in the final. Frey walked two and gave up five hits, while fanning five. Johnson led the offence with a double and a single, while runs Bronson Higgs singled twice.
Don “Mud” Grasby coach 28 years to win his first OBA title and now retires after winning his fifth consecutive OBA title. Grasby, 52, coached also coached mosquito, rookie, peewee and junior in Stratford.
Midget B
At Simcoe, the Leamington Lakers went undefeated edging the Stratford Indians 5-4 at Memorial Park to win the Jack Lee Memorial Trophy.
Leamington won tourneys earlier at both La Salle and Ancaster, going undefeated there as well for coach Chris Lamont.
Simcoe lost 7-5 to Essex and 12-5 to Bolton.
Wyoming was three outs away from eliminating Halton Hills and advancing to the provincial semi-final in a mercy situation, but Halton Hills rallied for a 15-14 win.
Bantam B
At Stratford, the Woodstock Wranglers edged Leamington 3-2 as Colton Ebel singled home the winning run for the walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh with runners on third and second with two outs,
Woodstock opened with a 16-2 win against Leamington beat Corunna 6-0, knocked off Ancaster 2-1 but lost 4-1 to Kawartha. That left three teams at 3-1 record. The Wranglers won the bye to advance to the final.
The Wranglers went up 1-0 at the end of the first and 2-0 after the fifth with Leamington tying the game in the sixth.
Woodstock allowed four runs in five games with the pitching staff going four games without surrendering a walk.
Coach Mike Van Boekel’s Wranglers were 32-17-1 on the season.
Minor bantam
At Watertown, Simcoe lost 7-3 to Stratford.
Tier 1 peewees
At Richmond Hill, the Simcoe Giants won their fourth OBA championship in the past five years defeating Chatham 10-0 in the final with Joel Storoschuk getting the win for coach Dave Leatherland.
Tier 2 peewee
Simcoe was eliminated losing its first 15-14 defeat to Uxbridge and 9-4 loss to Exeter.
Major Mosquito team
At Chatham, Simcoe lost twice by the slimmest of margins in both games.
Minor Mosquito B
At Coburg, Simcoe’s finished on top defeating Port Lambton 12-2 in the final for coach Jeff Shortt
Rookie
At Chatham, Bolton won the title. Simcoe had a win and two losses including a one-run loss to Bolton.
Rookie Select
At Dorchester, the Royal York Cardinals won six straight games to claim the championship beating Barrie 14-12 in the final. Elias Rubio-Reyes was MVP knocking in the winning run with a double. He also homered, singled and knocked in four runs.
Shortstop Ariel Bravo mae the final out of the championship while batting .632 for the tournament, while Marco Bozic hit .685 with nine RBIs for the tournament.
The Cardinals opened with a 19-2 win over Kitchener, then Royal York beat Guelph 16-8, Dorchester 20-19, Peterborough 17-0 and Leaside 10-9 to move on to the final.