By: Jackie Dempster-O’Halloran

Special to the Standard

With three key players missing from the roster last week the Lake Scugog Lumberjacks fastball team was ready to give it all they had.  They traveled down to Adams Park to face the Scarborough Royals Bantam team, at game time they knew little about their opponents except they had a great starting pitcher, after a few innings of play the Jacks quickly learned that this team had more on the ball then just pitching.

The Royals took an early lead in the first as their cleanup hitter who was a royal-pain at the plate all night (or royal pain in the grass) hit a triple to deep left cashing in his first RBI on the night.  In the second Scarborough added to their command as their first hitter to the plate crushed a homer to left field which in any other ballpark would have cleared the fence.  Brandon Griffen of Port Perry sacrificed in the 4^th to get the Jacks on board, but the Royals answered that call in the bottom of the inning with another home run this time to deep centre field.

Scarborough squeaked in another run in the 7^th inning on some fine base running by their second baseman who led off the inning with a single to right field.  In the final inning with 2 outs the Jacks were determined not to let Scarborough dash their hopes, Kyle Dickson reached base with a single to right, followed by Layne O’Halloran’s line drive along the first baseline, next Dylan Smith reached base on a hard hit ball to short.  With the bases loaded and the pressure on, Matt Reid looped a ball over third base collecting a RBI and putting the Jacks within one of tying the game.

With the tables turned and the pressure on the Royals’ starter, who at this point threw 110 pitches, things didn’t look very jubilant for Scarborough.  The Jacks’ number 5 hitter Brandon Griffen lined up the middle for what looked like a single but the Royals’ shortstop got a piece of the ball and redirected it to the shallow outfield.  The ball was retrieved and overthrown to third which allowed three runs to score on the play giving the Jacks a two run cushion.  The Royals added another run in the final inning but that was not enough as the Jacks’ perseverance pays off with a 6-5 win against a great hitting and fielding team.

This game proved to be a royal battle for the Jacks, Ryan Jones and Brandon Griffen shared the pitching duties allowing 5 earned runs on 8 hits and posting 4 walks with 18 strikeouts on the night (10 inning game).  Also helping the Jacks to this victory were stellar performances behind the plate by Jacob Bricknell and left field by Cody Till.  Hunter Davidson had two hits and Clayton Robinson hit the ball well picking up a single to left and getting robbed by the centerfield in the 5^th inning.

If you are interested in learning more about the team visit their website at http://www.ballcharts.com/teams/index.php?team=PortPerryJacks any upcoming games will be posted on the calendar page.  Also don’t forget to check out more minor softball news and events in Port Perry by visiting Port Perry & District Minor Softball Associations’ website at http://www.portperrysoftball.com/ where you will find updated information for house league teams.