Playing for August

Playing for August was the goal of the 2017 Annette Peewee Select team.

Early in the season, a home game to watch the Blue Jays kicked off the team building experience. While the camaraderie began to build off the field, the team started the regular season with 1 win and 4 losses. Some of the boys were discouraged after these early season games. However, during this stretch, the Annette team played against all of the strongest teams in the loop and all games were close. The coaches knew this team had potential and tried to encourage the boys by explaining that the Select regular season is an opportunity to practice, develop in areas that need work and come together as a team. With the EBA Championship scheduled later in the summer, we were “Playing for August”.

The hard work of the boys started to pay dividends by early June and the A’s went on an eight game winning streak which was on the line when Annette faced York in the last regular season game. York took the “W” and completed their undefeated regular season.

By August, the A’s had improved their skills and gained trust in each other as teammates. The boys experienced a bit of blow when they found out Fischer Stoltz broke his arm shortly before the EBA championship weekend. Fischer came to support his teammates the entire championship weekend and helped out during warm-up doing as much as he possibly could with a cast on his arm.

On Saturday, in Round 4 of the EBA finals, Annette faced York in the third game of the day for the A’s. Once again, York got the win to remain undefeated in the EBA finals. Despite being handed their first loss of the EBA finals, Annette advanced to Sunday morning as one of the final 4 teams. Annette defeated Martingrove Sunday morning. This A’s win combined with York’s first loss resulted in a Round 6 elimination game between the two teams. This time, Annette came out on top eliminating York from the tournament.  The A’s went on to face Royal York in the final game. Justin Lair pitched 71% strikes, allowed only 2 runs and walked zero batters in 5 innings setting up Morgan Chochinov as the closer. The A’s won the championship 5-3 when Morgan struck out all 3 Royal York hitters in the 7^th inning.

While the team was Playing for August, the A’s gained an opportunity to play in September at the Ontario Provincial tournament in Mississauga. The team play was excellent in the August EBA finals. However, the coaches challenged the A’s to take their game a level higher for September.

In Round 1, Annette faced Clarington beating the Colts 8-4. This set-up a Round 2 showdown against the Mississauga Twins. The A’s took an early lead but couldn’t hold on to it. The Twins won the game 11-8 and Annette was in a must win situation to avoid elimination.  The Peewee’s had faced elimination before in the EBA Championship and knew how to respond.

In Round 3, the A’s faced another Mississauga team – the Majors. The A’s got off to a strong start taking a 9-2 lead after 2 innings. Looking to preserve pitching arms, the A’s hoped to finish this game in short order. In the third inning, Liam Beenken, a fighter at the plate, hit a key single to keep a rally alive. He then stole second base and made it home after which the rally continued and Annette closed out the game in four innings. Tyler Hanger was the winning pitcher delivering a stellar performance. Ryan Grzybek delivered an unbelievable defensive performance in CF including multiple diving catches. The post-game team cheer was “Superman” recognizing Ryan’s efforts.

In a Round 4 re-match, Clarington hoped to turn the tables on Annette. But the A’s wouldn’t have it. Morgan set the tone with a first inning over the fence dinger that scored two runs and Annette won the game 9-2. Justin, Ryan and Tyler pitched in this game – all three delivering on what they had to do to combine for the win. Stefan Jimenez would smack the ball hard to the outfield twice for a couple key hits and an RBI.

Now one of the final four teams, Annette’s Round 5 opponent was the undefeated Oakville – an impressive team both offensively and defensively. Enter Iain Playfair, Annette’s starting pitcher for this match-up and a Select baseball rookie. Extraordinary! Iain pitched a complete game – 7 innings on 77 pitches allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs. The game’s 5 runs were all scored in the first inning and Annette finished strong in the field to win the game 3-2. Patrick Boyle was a star offensively and in the field at 1B throughout the tournament – consistently scooping and stretching when it counted. He scored 9 of the team’s 66 runs in the Provincials and delivered 6 RBIs.

With the win against Oakville, Annette was now one of the final three teams – all eligible for the Round 6 bye. With a draw for the bye, it wasn’t meant to be for the A’s. Oakville received the bye and Annette was set to play their third game of the day Sunday evening vs. Barrie. The A’s needed another big performance from Justin. And true to form, he delivered – and then some. 5.1 innings pitched, 60 pitches, 85% strikes, 7 strikeouts and only 2 runs allowed. Ryan was super cool striking out 2 Barrie hitters to earn the save and Annette moved on to Round 7 following a 12-2 victory.

On Monday morning, the A’s would meet Oakville again – this time with the Championship on the line. Annette was nervous but ready for the challenge. Iain and Justin both delivered superb pitching performances in the previous two rounds and now it was Morgan’s turn. This kid has a history of delivering in pressure situations. 10 pitches in, it was clear that Morgan was in the zone. He retired the first 3 Oakville batters of the game including 2 strikeouts. From that point forward, the team had his back. Shane Fournier, Matthew Smith and Stefan each knocked in a run in the second inning and Annette gained an early 4-0 lead. The strong defensive play continued, as did the offence.  Morgan pitched the game of his life (so far). He left the game in the seventh inning after retiring 18 batters including 9 strikeouts and giving up only 1 hit. Coach handed the ball to Matthew who had been warming up his arm and waiting patiently to pitch. Coming in with two runners on base and no outs, Matthew struck out the first batter he faced. When Oakville scored a couple runs to chip away at Annette’s lead, the coaches anxiously watched. But the A’s reliever was cool. With two outs, the runner on third headed for home plate on a pitch that reached the backstop. Shane quickly retrieved the ball and made the throw to Matthew who applied the tag. Matthew calmly and courageously took this one over the finish line. Game over!

At the conclusion of the final game, Morgan was awarded the Defensive Player of the Game and Tyler was awarded the Offensive Player of the Game. Very fitting since Tyler lead the team in the tournament in on base %, batting average and runs scored.

Remember Fischer who couldn’t play in the EBA finals due to injury? Not only was Fischer’s defensive play at 2B excellent throughout the Provincials, he started the final game second inning rally with a lead-off single, stole 2 bases then scored when Shane singled. He also delivered hits and knocked in runs at key points during previous games.

Shane was the catcher for all but a handful of the 39 defensive innings Annette played in 7 games. This included every inning of the 3 games the A’s played on Sunday. He did a great job communicating with the pitchers especially in the last 3 games where pitch count was critical to the team’s success.

As part of the team’s journey, Si Little and Jonny Armstrong delivered solid performances during the regular season. Ryan Balan’s camps, work with the A’s pitchers and support of the team’s development was an important part of the team’s success. Team Manager Bailie Tabak kept the team on track. Coaches David Lair, Victor Jimenez, Jeff Chochinov and Chris Fournier steered the ship and had fun while they strategized. The support of the Annette baseball community, including the Provincial Champion Mosquitos at the final game, was icing on the cake.

Let’s keep Annette Playing for August … and September!