2017 Major Rookie '08 | Sep 05, 2017 | Daniel Leonardes | 2178 views
The Major Rookie St. Thomas Cardinals are your 2017 OBA B Provincial Champions!!!!!
An unbelievable season capped off by an unbelievable weekend with The 2017 St. Thomas Major Rookie Cardinals walking away from Chatham as Ontario Baseball Association's Major Rookie Champions!
The tournament started Friday night with a win over Northumberland 11-3. Saturday morning we won over Stratford 12-2, and due to rain Saturday afternoon this was our only game of the afternoon, setting up a marathon Sunday of baseball.... Sunday morning we faced a tough test but pulled out the win versus Woodstock in a come from behind victory 9-8 Following that we had another Sunday morning game where we had a big victory over a tough Welland team, with a 4 run 7th including a 2 out 2 RBI line drive to the fence to secure the walk off 14-13, setting up a semi final match vs Woodstock where we struck early and often including a 3 run homer over the fence to left, in the top of the 1st which completely demoralized the Woodstock team, where we marched to a huge 16-4 win, sending us to the finals as the only undefeated team in a double knockout tournament against Northumberland once again. The first final game was our 4th consecutive game on Sunday, the boys were gassed dropping it 7-4, setting up a winner take all finale on Monday morning. Northumberland came out swinging, and put us down 4-0 after 1 inning, but the boys bounced back with a run in the 3rd and 4th, followed by a huge 6 run 5th, and tacked on 2 more in the bottom of the 6th. The real aid was a very stellar defense that slammed the door in the 7th to win the championship 9-4, not allowing a single run after they're 4 run first inning!
Best part of the tournament though, was that every single kid had a clutch moment to help lead our team to victory throughout the tournament. We were asked to pick an MVP, but the coaches looked blankly at each other as it could have been any of the 12 - so they all were MVP's. So many great memories, and so very proud of these guys!!! Terrific tournament, with some great competition - Kudos to all the teams who fought hard all weekend. Outstanding plays everywhere, and some really tight games.
Big thanks to the Families of the Major Rookie Cardinals - 11 hours at the ball park on Sunday, then back on Monday - not to mention your stellar commitment and support through the year, this accomplishment is as much yours as it is the players - Thank you for a wonderful season! #CHAMPS!