Jul 16, 2012 | T.Arnold | 917 views
Orillia recap
The Cardinals spent the weekend of July 13-15 in Orillia. Despite not qualifying for the semi finals it was a fun-filled weekend and, for the most part, some good ball was witnessed.
Game 1 saw the Cardinals play Oakville for the second time this season. We also played Oakville in the Brantford tournament where we squeaked out a victory. On this day, the win came much easier. The Cardinals scored in almost every inning as the bats came alive in a rare display of offense. Behind solid pitching of Jarret W. and Cody I, and sold defense led by short stop Sean T. the Cardinals easily handled Oakville in an 11-3 victory.
Game 2, early Saturday morning was a different story. Playing the AA Barrie RedSox was not a lot of fun. We were never in this one as Barrie scored early and often. This Barrie team appeared solid all around. Hitters continually hit the ball hard and our defense was not as crisp as the evening before. The bats were not particularly good either and when we did put the ball in play, the Red Sox made the outs. In just 4 innings it was over as the 18-run mercy kicked in.
With an 18-0 loss and the other division showing close games it was pretty obvious that we'd need a miracle to continue on to Sunday. (Spoiler - the miracle never materialized)
With about 2 hours to kill before the third game some families stayed in Orillia to enjoy the beautiful sun and beaches. Others returned to the hotel (Carriage Hills) to enjoy the pool or simply rest. I think both groups enjoyed themselves as we prepared for what was likely the final game of the tournament.
Game 3 was a very entertaining match between 2 teams who were 1-1. Both of us easily handled Oakville and were easily punished by Barrie so all indications were that this would be a good game. And it was! After Leaside scored 1 in the 3rd on a balk and 4 more in the 4th (a key 3-run triple accounting for most of the damage) it did not appear that this would be our day. The Cardinals scored 1 in the bottom of the 4th to give some hope, but no more runs were scored until the 6th.
I should point out that Trevor R. and Lucas T. pitched superbly and this is the only reason we really had a chance to win it later. (Spoiler - we did) With the 2 hour curfew looming, the Cardinals batted in the bottom of the 6th trailing 5-1. A couple of walks, a pitching change, a single, another walk, an RBI groundout and a clutch bloop 2-run single later and it was over. The Cardinals were up 6-5, still batting, but the 2-hours had passed so it was OVA!
The "thrilla in Orillia" (thanks Todd) it was! Later that evening as we celebrated the victory back in the resort we found out that we would not be moving on. The other 6-team division was poorly laid out as there ended up being 3 3-0 teams and 3 0-3 teams. personally I think this was poor scheduling, but it would not likely have mattered anyway given the total of 26 runs against. We were not likely to win a tiebreak against another 2-1 team anyway.
So, we got to come home early Sunday morning and I was surprised to see that Barrie (who had 4 mercies under their belt) lose to Port Hope in the final.
Congrats to the winners
Aside from the poor showing in game 2, all the boys should be proud of their efforts and we continue to see improvement as the year moves along.