The Leamington Lakers 10U participated in their first out-of-town tournament this past weekend and the third of the season, travelling to London for the 9th Annual London Talons Tournament July 11-13, with some of the top “A” and below teams in the province making up the field of 16.
Game one Friday night, the boys were ready and took on a Mississauga Majors team. With the Lakers scoring four runs in each of the first, fourth and sixth innings, while only allowing four hits, they won by a score of 12-4.
Game two was Saturday afternoon facing a strong St. Thomas team. The boys faced some tough pitching and their bats never really came alive, losing by a final score of 11-1.
They had a quick turnaround and faced Woodstock later in the day – the same team they lost to in the “B” OBA finals last year – and looked for their revenge as it was a must-win to make it to Sunday. The bats showed up to this game, tallying a total of 15 hits and going up by a score of 7-1 after three innings.
The talented Woodstock team would attempt a comeback in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs. However, the Lakers tacked on two more runs of their own in the top of the fifth, and then shut the door with pitching and defense to win by a final score of 9-4, punching their ticket to the quarter-finals Sunday morning.
An early morning rainstorm postponed their Sunday start time from 8:15 am to 10 am, when they would face another challenge against Dorchester.
After the Lakers going up 7-2 through three innings, the scrappy Dorchester team scored four of their own in the bottom of the fourth, making it a 9-6 game. That would be as close as it got, as the Lakers would score a couple more runs and win the game by a final of 11-7.
The Lakers then faced the North London Nationals, last year’s “A” OBA champions. After giving up three runs in the top of the first, the Leamington team answered back with four of their own in the bottom of the frame.
After a scoreless second, North London tied the game up in the top of the third, only to answer back with two of their own.
The Lakers bats stayed hot and with some heads-up base running and clutch defense they closed out the game with a final score of 14-7.
With the earlier weather delay, they didn’t have much time to make the trip to another park where they would face a familiar foe in St. Thomas, who was waiting for them after beating Sarnia.
With the St. Thomas team being a perfect 5-0 at that point and only surrendering 10 runs on the weekend, the Lakers knew they would have to put a complete game together in order to take home the championship.
After a scoreless top of the first, it was the Lakers’ turn to try and score first. They were able to score four runs in each of the first and second innings, while slamming the door with pitching and defense, shutting out their opponents with a score of 9-0 after three innings.
St. Thomas did their best at attempting to come back with two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings and one more in the top of the sixth. The Lakers lead had shrunk from up nine to now only up by three.
It was their chance to take control of the game at the plate. Thanks to some timely hits and more solid base running, the Lakers extended their lead by six.
They were able to close out the game in the top of the seventh inning, only allowing one run and winning the championship by a final score of 12-6 and capturing their second tournament win on the season.
