St. Thomas 1 Lions Club clinch LDBA league and playoff titles
St. Thomas
1 Lions Club completed a remarkable 2018 season with a dominant 18-0,
three-inning mercy victory over Southwest London 3 on Sunday in Byron in the
London and District Baseball Association (LDBA) bantam house league
championship game. The team also won the league championship with a 13-3
regular season record.
Pitcher Caleb Pennings was flawless in three innings of work and all St. Thomas bats were alive from the beginning, scoring 4 runs in the first inning, 7 in the second and 7 in the third to take the title. The victory came after St. Thomas 1 defeated St. Thomas 3 McGregor Auto Parts 14-1 and Southwest London 3 11-10 on Saturday to advance to the title game.
The championship marked back-to-back bantam house league titles for the team’s core group of Pennings, Erin Briggs, Ethan Minka, Colin Weir, Collin Banman, Evan Jones, Ben Basacco and Connor McMillan, as well as the coaching staff of Dave Briggs, Rob Weir and Ben Basacco.
St. Thomas was a perfect 3-0 in the playoffs and the win in the title game was its 9th straight victory.
For the year, the team posted a 16-3 record in 19 games and led the league by a wide margin in both runs scored (220) and runs allowed (64). On average, St. Thomas allowed just 3.4 runs per game, while scoring 11.5 — an average margin of more than 8 runs.
As talented as the team was on the field, it was exceeded by the character and work ethic of the players both on and off the diamond.
The championship capped a dominant year for St. Thomas house league teams in LDBA play with teams from The Railway City sweeping all championship positions. Apart from St. Thomas 1 Lions Club winning the bantam league and playoff titles, St. Thomas 2 Ron’s Auto Service won the B Group bantam playoff championship. In midget, St. Thomas 1 Yurek Pharmacy won the league championship and St. Thomas 2 Briwood Farm Market won the playoff championship.