Rookie OBA pirates bring home the gold over the weekend at the Wyoming Wranglers Rookie Classic.
2017 Wyoming Wranglers Rookie Classic
CHAMPIONS
Over the weekend the Port Lambton Rookie OBA Pirates took home the gold in the Wyoming Wranglers Rookie Classic. The weekend started off with a rain delayed game against a very good Leamington Lakers team. Rain caused the game to be delayed after 3 innings and then concluding at the end of the day Saturday with Leamington coming out on top 6-5 in a very tight defensive game. Big hits came from Brock, Sommer, Lilly, Jace, Ethan, Nate and Parker. Saturday involved the rest of the round robin with the first game being against the local Wyoming Minor team with a blowout win of 23-0. Multiple hits from Jace, Axel, Lilly, Brock, Noah, Sommer and Ethan leading the way going 4 for 4. Our final round robin game had the rookie pirates up against a tuff Lucan-Ilderton team and that was a tight game heading into the final innings before opening right up for the pirates and coming away with a 15-4 victory. Big game for both Axel Howlett and Ethan Rosseel collecting multiple hits. Great defensive play by Axel as well as Graeme Hazzard. With two wins and one loss, that left the pirates in second place in their division and getting to face the local rival Corunna Giants in the Quarter Final round Sunday morning. As always Corunna gave us a tight game but the rookie pirates came out on top with a score of 16-6. Off to the Semi Finals against Exeter at noon. The game started out a close defensive battle with neither team giving up any easy bases or runs. The pirates came out in the 4th inning with some big hits which scored 7 runs. Rookie pirates finished the game with a 12-3 win. Solid hitting from Tyson Lozon, Brock and Sommer leading the way at the plate for the pirates hitting a BOMB inside the park homerun. Off to the Finals for the rookie pirates and who else but Leamington again as the opponent. Our pirates were ready for this game knowing Leamington was a good team but as long as we made no mental errors defensively and had our bats we could compete and get the W. The final was played in Wyoming at centennial park at 3:30 Sunday. The game started off a defensive showdown with no runs scored in the first two innings even with both teams getting some big hits and leaving runners stranded on the bases. The big innings for Port Lambton was the third scoring 5 runs with big hits from Parker Wigle, Lilly Klompstra, Noah VanRuymbeke, Ethan Rosseel and Brock Lane. The other big inning was the fifth scoring 4 runs on hits from Jared Ritchie, Nate Bastow, Brock and Noah. From there the pirates defense took over and shut the Lakers offence down only allowing one run to be scored the rest of the way. Great Defensive work from Ethan, Brock, Lilly, and Nate. Game ending in a score of 9-1 with the pirates coming out on top in the finals and taking home the GOLD. The tournament had 12 teams compete from all over southwestern Ontario. Over the entire weekend the pirates outscored their opponents 80-20 Great defensive work and HOT HOT bats got the job done for the Port Lambton Rookie OBA Pirates. Individual Game MVP's throughout the weekend went to Sommer Dalgety, Nate Bastow, Noah VanRuymbeke,Brock Lane and twice to Lilly Klompstra. Tournament MVP went to Brock Lane. Big thanks to the players, coaches and our big Pirate family for a great weekend of camping, fun and lots of great baseball. Nothing better than 6 games of baseball in two days and watching these kids hard work pay off. Great Job Pirates!