Junior Rookie Tigers win Eastern Ontario title
The Peterborough Ricky’s All Day Grill/Berardi Bros. Plumbing Junior Rookie Tigers are Eastern Ontario champions, completing a perfect season on the way to the league title.
The Tigers finished with a 22-0 regular season record and 4-0 playoff record.
The team began their preparations for the season in late September 2016 with fall practices and skills development sessions. Throughout the winter, the coaches and players worked to refine skills and to develop a strong, professional team environment.
The regular season was played against Whitby, Oshawa, Pickering, Ajax and Northumberland. The boys competed in two tournaments (Cambridge and Bolton), winning both with undefeated records.
In the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association Tournament, the Tigers faced motivated competition but were up to the challenge. In the semi-final game versus Oshawa, the team fell behind 7-0 before mounting a comeback with strong defensive play and timely hitting.
Great outfield play from Jack Philips and tough catches at first base from Cole Cavanagh kept the team alive. This set the stage for Lucas Ca van ag ht oh it the go ahead home run in the fifth, his first of the season. The Tigers held the lead and advanced to the final versus Whitby.
In the championship game, Peterborough took control from the first pitch. The game remained close as Whitby played great defence against the Tigers. RBI hits from Cam Ryan and Noah Stanley in the fifth inning built a five run lead for Peter borough, they would not give up. Beau Marshall flipped the ball to Stanley at second base for the final out of the game and the perfect season was complete.
The win provided momentum heading to Kitchener this weekend for the AAA Ontario championship. The Tigers will take on East York at 1 p.m. on Friday.