The Leamington 8U Lakers brought home the silver medal from the annual Lakers Classic Tournament held at the Kinsmen Ball Diamonds over the May 29-31 weekend.
The Lakers and Kingsville Knights seemed destined to meet in an important game and that one came at noon on Sunday, when the Lakers defeated the Knights to punch their ticket to the final.
Waiting for them in the final was the unbeaten Riverside Royals, who had defeated the Lakeshore Whitecaps to get to the final.
Leamington had kicked off the tournament with a 23-12 drubbing of the Windsor Stars on Friday and then followed that with a 20-13 win over Chatham in a back-to-back schedule.
On Saturday, the Lakers dropped an exciting 23-14 decision to the Kingsville Knights, setting up what looked to be a Leamington-Kingsville showdown on Sunday.
The Lakers 2-1 record got them to the quarter finals on Sunday morning, where they hosted Chatham once again and beat them handily by a 20-4 score.
That set up the semi-final local showdown with Kingsville. The Lakers surprised the Knights after Saturday’s lopsided game and returned the favour, winning 25-12.
In the final, the Lakers held an 11-9 lead going into the fourth inning, but Riverside came alive with the bats and won 19-11 to take the title.
In the 12U division, the Leamington Lakers dropped their Friday afternoon game 13-1 to the Brantford Red Sox, then fell to the Chatham Diamonds 8-4 in a close game.
Knights and Lakers on Sunday. Leamington second baseman Colt Janzen looks back for the errant ball while teammate Maverick Gossmann looks to the outfield. SUN photo by Mark Ribble
Sunday.
