Ontario shows true colours in victory
Team Alberta had an off-day at the plate, while Team Ontario showed what they’re capable of.
Kicking off Day 4 of the Junior Little League Canadian Championship at Spitz Stadium, the Ontario representative Oakville Whitecaps handed Alberta’s Medicine Hat Little League their first loss of the tournament with a 6-1 decision Sunday afternoon.
Posting the win that improves them to 2-2, the Whitecaps scored twice in the first inning and added four more runs in the fifth inning and held Little League to six hits on the afternoon for the loss that puts them at 3-1.
Alberta avoided being shutout in the top of the seventh when Cole Rath reached on an error to centre field and scored on a Tory Nelson double, but it wasn’t enough to threaten Ontario’s lead.
“We’re looking at the scoreboard and we had six hits over seven innings, you’re not going to score a whole lot of runs,” said Little League head coach Dean Harrison. “Even if we played a flawless game in the field it still doesn’t make a difference. We have to get the bats working if we want to win a game like this.”
Meanwhile, Ontario head coach Nick Rigato said Sunday’s win was better indication of what his charges bring to the diamond after opening the week with a win before dropping their next two.
“It’s a really big game for us because we came out strong in the first game against Quebec and I think we were disappointed the way we played the next two games,” he said. “That’s not our brand of baseball. Today was more indicative of the way we can play. We scratch and claw for the runs and we play tight defence. That’s the way we play.”
The Whitecaps struck early Sunday afternoon when Alex Gaudet singled and eventually scored on a Riley Johnson double to right field. Ross Mackay added the second run for Ontario on a passed ball.
After three scoreless innings, Ontario went back to work in the fifth inning and padded their lead in the process.
Mateo Giannidis singled and scored on a fielder’s choice from Michael Bowman before Trevor Smith singled in Johnson for a 4-0 Whitecaps lead.
Ontario rounded out their scoring when Smith and Marshall Williams crossed on a single to centre off the bat of Travis Winteler.
Prior to nationals, Harrison told his Alberta representatives their bats will blow hot and cold over the week-long event.
“I told the kids before we got here that they’re all not going to bat 1.000 and field 1.000. You have to take the good with the bad and we have to wake up a little bit earlier with bats. The urgency gets to you in the seventh, so then guys want kind of step up. Let’s take that attitude in the first. It is a long week and I told the guys ‘You’re going to go through some slumps and you’re going to be hot.’ It happens in baseball. This is one of those days where we really didn’t get anything rolling on the bats. They got some pitchers who were keeping us off-balance. They were trying to make us not hit and that’s what happened today.”
Nelson’s double capped off a 3-for-4 afternoon with one RBI.
“We had a lot of times where the runners were on base and we never scored them,” said the catcher, pitcher and shortstop. “We didn’t really have any key atbats. We got them on and didn’t score.”
Medicine Hat will look to get back on the winning track when they face the host Lethbridge Junior Bulls in an all-Alberta showdown today at 1:30 p.m.at Spitz Stadium.
“We’ve had a good start so far and we’ve gotten ourselves in pretty good position to go into the top-four,”said Nelson. “We just have to play stronger in the next couple of games.”
Harrison said his team’s bats will need to get going earlier in this afternoon’s key game.
“We know they’re a good team so we’re going to have to be ready. We have to wake up a little earlier in the batter’s box if we want to compete.”
The Whitecaps look to get above .500 and continue Sunday’s solid play when they take on the Martimes representative Sydney Sooners at 11 a.m. today.
“We’re now 2-2. so we’re in a very good spot to move forward, but we want to keep playing well,” said Rigato. “It’s a big game for us against the Maritimes. We want to come out and continue to play hard and see where we can get in the final seeding.”
Johnson was 2-for-4 for Ontario Sunday with one run scored and one RBI, while Winteler had a two-RBI outing.
Ross Mackay took the win for the Whitecaps, pitching two-thirds innings in the fourth, walking one and striking out one.
Felix Miller was tagged for the loss for Alberta.
In the early game today, Quebec’s NDG Lynx (Montreal) takes on Coquitlam Little League/Fraser Valley District at 8:30 a.m.