Richmond Victoria Day Tournament News
Posted May 20, 2012
The Vancouver Mounties survived the round robin series of the Tournament and have advanced to the Semi Finals of the Richmond Victoria Day weekend. The Mounties went 1 win and 1 loss on Saturday and finished the round robin with a record of 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 tie which puts them through as the 2nd seed of pool B.
In an eerie coincidence the Mounties 2nd game of the round robin was exactly 2 years less 2 days from the 2010 infamous Walkgate game. That game was also played at Blundel Park North against Abblotsford and was also the 2nd game of the round robin. The same home plate umpire was also in place for this game. However the difference was that on this day the Mounties were the team that benefitted with 17 base on balls including 14 walks in that total. The Mounties batters were disciplined in this game and did not chase and only needed 3 hits in defeating the Abbotsford Angels by a 10 to 1 score.
Although
the Mounties played both games under horrendous conditions the final
game of pool "A" between the Cloverdale Black Spurs and the Ridge
Meadows Royals which was to run Simultaneously with the Mounties last
game was not played.
This
game will be completed at 9:00am on Monday morning at Blundel North to
determine the final seedings of Pool "A" If Cloverdale Black wins they
will become the number #1 seed and play the Vancouver Mounties in one
Semi Final and the Richmond Chuckers will become the #2 seed and play
the Abbotsford Angels in the other Semi final.
If Ridge Meadows wins the game it will cause a 3 way tie between Ridge, Cloverdale, and Richmond who would all sport 2 -1 records. A tie breaker scenario would then occur.
Both Semi Finals will be played at noon with the Championship game to go at 3:00pm.
So
although the matchups are not yet confirmed the Mounties have reached
their objective of advancing to the Semi Finals and will be playing
someone at 12 noon at Blundel North. The games will now get harder and
the strongest will survive.
Update: Remaining games cancelled due to rain.
Mounties Schooled by AA Cardinals!
The
Vancouver Mounties salvaged a 5 to 5 tie against the Vancouver AA
Cardinals in their opening game of the Richmond Victoria Day
Tournament. The Cardinals outplayed the Mounties in every facet of the
game and deserved a better fate than the tie.
The Cardinals
scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st inning against the stunned Mounties
and then rotated 4 different pitchers into the game keeping the
Mountie batters confused throughout the contest. The Mounties scored 3
runs in the top of the 7th to tie the game up. In the bottom of the 7th
the Mountie woes continued when they walked the first two Cardinal
Batters but the next 3 batters struckout, popped up, and grounded out to
end the inning and the game.
If the Mounties hope to advance out
of the round robin they will have to re group and put in a better
effort tomorrow when they play the Abbotsford Angels and the Nanaimo
Pirates to close out their round robin play.
Mounties Have Chance to 3 Peat!
The
Vancouver Mounties will have a great opportunity this weekend to 3 peat
having won the Richmond Victoria Day Tournament in 2010 and 2011. What
they might not know is that this will be their toughest test so far
this season as other than their own fan base they can expect little
or no support from any other fans as the rest of the teams will
be gunning for them.
As much as everyone takes satisfaction in beating the Mounties some teams will have a little more motivation than others.
Teams
like the Vancouver Bantam AA Cardinals who might have some players out
to prove a point that they may have been overlooked during the Mountie
selection process.
Teams like Abbotsford Angels who were
involved in the infamous "Walkgate Incident" in 2010 which ended up
getting Mounties former manager Pawlick suspended for 5 games, or the
Richmond Chuckers who after the "Walkgate Incident" ended up facing the
Mounties in the Semi Final where they were mercied 11 - 1 by the
Mounties.
Teams like Ridge Meadows Royals who lost 7 - 3 to the
Mounties in the 2011 Championship Game. A game that may have been
decided before it even started when the Mounties won the famous dugout
battle. Ridge sophmore manager Kyle Lukacs has a memory like an
elephant and will do everything in his power to have his team fired up
to beat the Mounties.
Teams like Cloverdale who lost 9 - 1 to
the Mounties in the 2010 Championship Final and then the next year in
2011 lost the semi final game 6 - 4 on a come from behind walk off
homerun.
Plus the Cloverdale coaching staff who are still
smarting from the $240.00 cheque to the Canadian Cancer Foundation that
they will be giving to the Mounties this weekend, when they pledged an
astounding $20.00 a run for every run the Red Spurs scored against the
Mounties on Mother's Day. With the Mounties only giving up 28 runs in
the first 14 games of the season it was quite a shocker when the Red
team scored 12 in one game. It has been rumoured that Cloverdale
General Manager Robichaud is looking to extract some revenge and has put
a bounty out on the Mounties.
The Mounties also know that the
leagues two newest teams, the Nanaimo Pirates managed by George Kelly
who have already beaten the Mounties this year and D. Rock's L.A.
Dodgers who have now adjusted to the league and will be looking to make a
statement with their first wins against the Mounties in their brief
franchise history.
Having said all that the Mounties will
welcome the challenge. Good luck to all of the teams as Tournament
Director John Braaten has done an outstanding job of organizing and
bringing in some of the top teams in the Bantam AAA League. It will
take endurance, perseverance, and some good old luck from the baseball
gods to win this tournament.
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