Chevies cruise to KCBL win
“Anyways, the rest is history!” The Lobster Fest tournament recently celebrated its 14th anniversary under Doyle’s leadership on the grounds of Credit Union Place in Summerside.
“The first year I did it there were 36 teams, and it’s just grown each year,” said Doyle in explaining how the event’s growth over the years. “This year, it did not grow as there are a few other big tournaments that are going on that I will say take away from this one.
“There is the Atlantic beach tour that is a circuit that teams have to play in if they want to go to nationals. Certain teams have to go to that, and that’s where I’m missing this year, but we have lots of new ones.”
The three-day 2018 tournament attracted 103 teams, which equals last year’s best-ever total. The tournament can accommodate up to 116 teams, and Doyle said between $4,000 and $4,500 was expected to be handed out in prize money, along with merchandise prizes and a few other things.
“It all adds up, and almost all the registration goes back to the teams in one way or another,” added Doyle, who praised the cooperation of the players in
It’s a provincial affair as games go at MacRae and Memorial Fields in Charlottetown, MacNeill Field in Stratford, Clippers Field in Cardigan and the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall.
And it’s going to be a barnburner, said organizing committee chair Alf Blanchard.
“We have 33 teams and more than 500 baseball players from six provinces playing in the tournament this year. The players appreciate the opportunity to play and the competitive juices are still very real, and the games making it a successful event.
“Once all the teams get here it pretty well runs itself,” continued Doyle. “We have to do a bit of paperwork on Sunday morning to figure out who’s against who in the playoffs, but it’s self-officiated, the guys and girls all get are taken seriously,” said Blanchard.
The event features teams from P.E.I., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
P.E.I. has three entries in the tourney, including the Morell Chevies of the Kings County Baseball League, Trixie’s Bears, the Capital City Jays and the P.E.I. 50s.
There are four divisions – 35plus, along, there’s never been a major dispute.
“If there is a little dispute or a judgement call they just serve the point again. Most of them are really good at that, and they call their own fouls and call when the balls are out.” 43-plus, 50-plus and 57-plus – and each team is guaranteed four games. Games start Thursday, Aug. 2. Finals go Monday, Aug. 6.
P.E.I. last the hosted the nationals in 2012. Memorial Field in the official host field.
“Charlottetown is thrilled to be hosting the Canadian National Oldtimers Baseball Federation championships,” said Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee. “With
As for the future, Doyle is looking to continue growing the tournament.
“I’ll keep going year to year, and try to build it and make it better anyway I can, whether it be entertainment or prizing,” he offered. “The prize money is the draw for a lot of the teams, and some of them are here for a good time.
“In the rec. division, there are 20 guys here from their work place, and there are 12 university students from a class. It’s a good weekend for rec. players as well. It’s not about the money for them, it’s about getting out and having some fun.” summer upon us, Charlottetown is buzzing with an array of activities and this sport tourism event is sure to offer participants, fans and sponsors a wonderful time not only because the championships are exciting to watch, but also because there’s so much to do in the capital city in the height of summer.”
The Cardigan Clippers sailed through the competition as the club won the recent Baseball P.E.I. midget AA and bantam AA eliminations in Charlottetown and Cardigan and Morell, respectively.
Both teams will now represent P.E.I. at their respective Atlantic championships. The midget AA team goes to Corner Brook, N.L., from Aug. 31 to Sept 2, and the bantam AAs head to Summerside for the Atlantics from Sept. 15 to 17 as P.E.I. One.
The Summerside Chevys, as the host team, will be P.E.I. Two.
On the midget AA side in Charlottetown, Cardigan-Northside defeated the Charlottetown Islanders 3-1 in the final.
The teams tied the round robin at 3-1 (won-lost), beating each other and defeating the Western Mariners (0-4) twice to set up the winner-take-all final.
While Cardigan had good hitting and defence, it was the team’s pitching that proved its greatest strength in the bantam AA tournament.
The host Clippers throttled the field in the East Pool and overall, going 4-0 while outscoring opponents 61-11 and winning every game by at least the 10-run rule, including a 16-6 pounding of Summerside in the championship game.
Summerside finished 3-1 overall after sailing through the West Pool and the semifinal undefeated.
Eliminations continue Friday with the bantam AAAs at MacRae and Central Fields in Charlottetown, and the mosquito AAAs at MacNeill Field in Stratford.
The Morell Chevies spotted the Charlottetown Expos an early 4-0 lead, but quickly erased that with a five-run third inning and cruised to an 11-5 victory in Kings County Baseball League action Wednesday in Morell.
Taylor Larkin went the distance, striking out nine Expos, while Brett Cheverie took the loss, with relief from Jordan Duffy.
Leading the way for the Chevies at the plate were Logan Gallant and Mike Ellsworth, each with two hits and two RBIs. Josh MacDonald added a two-run double.
For the Expos, Ben Ladner and Duffy collected a pair of hits.
The Chevies will travel to Stratford Friday for an 8 p.m. start against the Athletics.
Stratford came out on the wrong end of pitching duel Wednesday in Cardigan as Clippers hurler Sam Walsh tossed a complete-game, four-hit 1-0 shutout over the A’s.
Losing pitcher Jonathan Arsenault also surrendered just four hits and kept the Clippers off the board until Lucas MacAulay delivered a leadoff single for the Clippers in the bottom of the sixth inning.
A sacrifice bunt by Walsh advanced MacAulay to scoring position. After a fly out, followed by an intentional walk to Charles Maclellan, Ben Doucette delivered a hard-hit game-winning single to right field to put the Clippers up 1-0.
Walsh retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh and after a two-out out single by Jonathan Arsenault, Walsh got a ground ball to end the game.
Walsh and Dean Carroll had the other Clipper hits.
Arsenault (2-3, double), Shawn MacDougall and Ryne MacIsaac tallied hits for the Athletics.