Mounties 2012 Provincial Champions
Posted August 5, 2012
Bantam AAA Provincials Start Thursday August 2 at Blundell Park in Richmond
The
race for the provincial Bantam AAA title starts Thursday morning with
the #1 ranked Cloverdale Black Spurs taking on the 9th place Victoria
Black Eagles while the 2nd place Abbotsford Angels battle the Cloverdale
Red Spurs. The Mounties first game goes at 1 pm and they'll be duking
it out with the Victoria Red Eagles. The complete schedule is located in
the handouts section and as the weekend progresses and time permits,
updates will be posted here.
This Provincial Championship is shaping up to be one of the closest in years. More than half the teams have a legitimate chance at taking home the gold. There will be upsets, there will be surprises but one thing for sure, it is going to be a great weekend of baseball. The weather is looking very good through Monday, Richmond will put on a great show and the players are all ready to go.
The location of the Provincials this year is Blundell Park, in behind Blundell Elementary at 6480 Blundell Rd, (between Gilbert and No. 2 Road).
Mounties Lose 2-1 in a Heartbreaker in Game 1
Lucas
Soper threw 7 shutout innings but was matched inning for inning by
Ethan Skuija as the teams went scoreless for 8 innings. The Mounties
were able to push one across in the 9th inning only to have Victoria
make it even in the bottom of the 9th. In the bottom of the tenth
Victoria led off with a double and were able to bring home the winning
run. Even though he got the no decision, Lucas got stronger as the game
progressed striking out 12 Victoria batters. For his efforts he got the
game MVP for the Mounties.
It
was an exciting start to the Mounties' Provincials but they would have
liked the result to be different. Pitching and defense were great on the
day but it was the lack of hits and untimely strikeouts that eventually
did them in. The Mounties face the Cloverdale Red Spurs (0-1) and the
Abbotsford Angels (2-0) on Friday.
The
day ended with a very nice opening ceremonies including a lovely
rendition of "O Canada", a few short speeches, a ceremonial first pitch
and many thanks for the volunteers who make it all happen.
Following the ceremonies, the Home Run Contest was held. Three players made it to the finals with 3 home runs on 10 swings: Tanner Rempel (Abbotsford Angels), Mitch Williams (Cloverdale Red Spurs) and the Mounties very own Thomas Espig. In the final round both Rempel and Williams were unable to put another one out. That left Thomas Espig with the opportunity to win it with one swing of the bat. In dramatic Espigian fashion Thomas waited until the last swing to put a towering shot out over the right field fence. Congratulations to Thomas for taking home the title in his first Home Run Contest.
Day 1 Scores:
POOL A
Abbotsford Angels 4 Cloverdale Red Spurs 1
Richmond Chuckers 1 Abbotsford Angels 7
POOL B
Cloverdale Black Spurs 9 Victoria Black Eagles 7 (8 innings)
Tri-City Indians 9 Ridge Meadow Royals 10
Nanaimo Pirates 0 Cloverdale Black Spurs 10
Mounties Win 2 on Day 2
Good
pitching, great defense and better hitting was the order of the day
today. In the morning The Mounties beat the Cloverdale Red Spurs 4-1 and
then beat Abbotsford in the twilight, 9-2. More details to follow.
Day 2 Scores:
POOL A
Victoria Red Eagles 5 Richmond Chuckers 15
POOL B
Victoria Black Eagles 21 Tri-City Indians 13
Ridge Meadow Royals 2 Nanaimo Pirates 7
Cloverdale Black Spurs 2 Tri-City Indians 5
Mounties Make it to Semi Final
The
good pitching continued and in fact got even better today as Taylor
Wright in his MVP performance threw 82 pitches in a 1 hit shutout
affair vs the Richmond Chuckers. This propelled the Mounties into the
first place in Pool A and into the semi final tomorrow.
The
defense was stellar and the bats, the bunts and the stealing created a
series of two run innings as the Mounties beat the Richmond Chuckers
8-0. Good pitching and good defense at the Provincials is what each team
strives for and the Mounties have been excellent at both holding
opponents to 5 runs over 4 games. Here's hoping that both continue as
they go up against the Nanaimo Pirates at 10 am in the semi final. In
the other semi final the top two teams from the league, Cloverdale Black
Spurs and the Abbotsford Angels go toe to toe.
Day 3 Scores:
POOL A
Richmond Chuckers 9 Cloverdale Red Spurs 1
Victoria Red Eagles 2 Abbotsford Angels 4
Cloverdale Red Spurs 5 Victoria Red Eagles 2
POOL B
North Nanaimo Pirates 8 Victoria Black Eagles 1
Ridge Meadow Royals 1 Cloverdale Black Spurs 5
Tri-City Indians 4 Nanaimo Pirates 2 Details
Victoria Black Eagles 3 vs Ridge Meadow Royals 12
Mounties Advance to Provincial Final!
The
Vancouver Mounties continued their dominance in Provincial crossover
games defeating the Nanaimo Pirates by an 8 - 3 score and have now
earned a berth in the Bantam AAA Championship Final.
The Mounties
started early in this one when Sengara hit a towering 3 run shot to
over the left field fence in the bottom of the 1st scoring Wright, Soper
and himself and the Mounties were off to a 3 - 0 lead.
The
Mounties added 3 more in the bottom of the 2nd when De Guzman doubled to
start things off. Hirakawa-Kao then advanced to 1st when he was on the
receiving end of an errant pitch. Wright then worked his way on with a
walk, setting up the stage for Soper to hit a bases clearing double.
Sengara
stayed hot and hit his 2nd homerun of the game in the 3rd and Hemer
knocked in Caine in the 5th to give the Mounties 8 runs on the day.
Those
were all the runs that Soper, pitching on 3 days rest, would need as he
gutted it out with an 83 pitch performance before leaving the game in
the 6th inning with men on 1st and 2nd with one out. Nesplak making his
4th save appearance of the tournament got the Mounties out of the jam
with 1 pitch after he fielded a comebacker and threw to Hemer at 3rd who
promptly threw to 1st to get the double play and get the Mounties out
of the inning. In the 7th it only took Nesplack 6 pitches to retire the
side and the Mounties were off to their 4th Provincial final in the
past 5 years.
The Vancouver Mounties held on and defeated the Abbotsford Angels by a 6 - 5 score to win the 2012 B.C. Provincial Bantam AAA Championship. This is the 2nd Provincial Championship the Mounties have won in the past 3 years.
As usual in this tournament the Mounties started out the final with some adversity giving up 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning. Mounties starter Hemer, coming back from a broken thumb that kept him out for most of the season, continued to battle with all the carnage going on around him and continued to make pitches to get the Mounties out of the inning.
The Mounties finally got on the board in the top of the 3rd when tournament unsung hero Tofer De Guzman led off with a single. Quito followed up botching two sac bunt attempts but then calmly redeemed himself lining a single out to right field. Next up Hirakawa-Kao won the battle with the Abby pitcher walking to load the bases. With none out and the bases loaded the Mounties were only able to score 1 run when De Guzman scored on Soper's sac fly. The Mounties started to regain energy and were determined that they were not going to be Provincial bridesmaids for two consecutive years.
In the bottom of the 3rd with two outs Abby answered back with a single and a triple to take a 3 - 1 lead. Hemer reluctantly gave up the ball and the Mounties for the 5th time in the tournament brought in Nesplak. This time Nesplak was not there for the save, he was in to try to finish the game as the Mounties pitching staff was starting to get thin. Nesplak got the Mounties out of the inning when De Guzman tracked down a deep fly ball in center field. Abby led 3 - 1 after 3 innings.
With Kingsbury giving the Mounties hitters some helpful advice the bats started to heat up and the Mounties Espig led off the 4th with a double. Hemer singled to score Espig and only some great defence by the Angels kept the Mounties from scoring any more. Even though the Mounties were still trailing by 1 run, Q was throwing gas and the Mounties continued to energize as he struck out 2 batters to end the 4th inning.
Abby brought in a relief pitcher in the 5th and the Mounties were like a pack of piranhas ready to feast. Nesplak started things off with a double and Hirakawa-Kao singled to score him. Wright reached on error. Soper seizing the opportunity ripped a single scoring Hirakawa-Kao and Wright. The Mounties had now taken their first lead of the game and led 5-3 after 4 1/2 innings.
Nesplak allowed a couple of baserunners in the bottom of the 5th but the Mountie defence was able to escape without giving up any runs.
De Guzman led off the 6th with a double to left centre but was thinking more and was not going to be denied running through coach Pawlick's stop sign beating out the throw sliding, popping up, and even making a safe sign before the startled umpire could rule. With one out Hirakawa-Kao scored De Guzman with a sac-fly; a run that the Mounties would definitely need later on in the contest.
Abby went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 6th as did the Mounties in the top of the 7th. Setting the stage for the dramatics in the bottom of the 7th.
Things started out smoothly with Q getting 2 strikes on the leadoff batter but he then doubled to lead off the inning. As everyone knows, the last 3 outs are always the toughest to get and this game was no different. Q was getting tired and started having trouble locating and walked the next batter. De Guzman caught a deep fly ball in centerfield to register the 1st out of the inning. Q then walked the next batter to load the bases with 1 out with the winning run now coming up to the plate.
At this point the Baseball Gods looked favorably down at the Mounties as the Abby batter unleashed a hard smash to right field that Mountie fielder Espig desperately tried to track down. Espig with his outstretched glove went crashing into the fence and the ball hit within 6 inches of the top of the fence bouncing back into the field of play. Espig made a strong throw back into the infield to keep the tying run from scroring. With one out and the tying and winning runs on 2nd and 3rd respectively and the Mounties on the ropes and Abby hitter Loewen coming to the plate the Mounties were reeling. However Nesplak was not going to be denied striking out Loewen on 4 pitches. With two away it was now between Swanson and Nesplak to decide the fate of the game. Swanson fouled off the first 3 pitches then Nesplak blew it by him on the 5th pitch of the sequence to end the game.
As Provincial Champions the Mounties will be picking up 6 players to form Team B.C. and will travel to Vaughan, ON to play for a National title.
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