Pat Payton
Sports editor
Stratford Memorials almost wrote a Hollywood-type script last week, before finally settling for the silver medals at the Canadian Midget boys fastball championship at the Packham Road complex.
In a thrilling finish late Friday afternoon, the Walkerton Wild nipped the youthful Memorials 7-6 with a run in the bottom of the 10th inning before an estimated 500 fans.
The host team may have finished second in the six-day, 16-team event, but it won over a lot of fastball fans with its gritty, hard-nosed play and never-give-up attitude.
Stratford won its pool with a perfect 7-0 record and then went 3-2 in five tough playoff games.
Their two close losses came against the veteran Walkerton squad, which is comprised of mostly 19-year-olds. Memorials, on the other hand, have 12 first-year Midgets.
“It exceeded our expectations,” Memorials’ assistant coach Bill Follings said following the medal presentations. “The team played its best ball of the season.”
Proud of his young team
Skipper Murray Patterson agreed.
“If somebody had said before the tournament that we’d get to the gold-medal game and be 10 innings into it, I would have said, ‘I’ll take it,’” Patterson said.
“I’m definitely proud of the way we fought in every game all week,” he added. “We went 10-2 for the week, and our only two losses were to the tournament champions. It’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I can live with that.”
The gold-medal affair was Memorials’ third game of the day, but with a national championship on the line fatigue was never an issue.
Stratford opened up a 1-0 second-inning lead on a solo home run by pitcher Caleb Keeshig, who had an outstanding week.
Walkerton grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third, knocking Keeshig out of the game.
After Memorials closed the gap to 3-2 in the fifth on a RBI single by Evan Kerekes, the Wild replied with three more runs on four hits in the bottom half of the frame.
It appeared at that point that Walkerton had a firm grip on the game and the Canadian title. But nobody told the Stratford team that.
A two-run homer by Corey Tuffnail brought the big crowd to life and capped a three-run rally in the top of the sixth. Then in the seventh, Memorials pulled even at 6-6 when Curtis Leonard’s single chased home George Armstrong.
After the Wild had a runner thrown out at the plate in the eighth, three Walkerton singles in the 10th pushed across the winning run.
“We knew going into it that we’d be in the thick of things,” Patterson added. “I guess I’m a little disappointed, but at the same time I’m not unhappy that I have a silver medal hanging around my neck.”
In the semi-finals Friday afternoon, Memorials rode the bat and arm of Michael Lagace-Roote to a nail-biting 4-3 win over the Oshawa BBs.
It was just Oshawa’s second loss of the tournament, leaving it with the bronze.
Stratford erased a 1-0 deficit with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth inning. The big blow as a three-run homer by Lagace-Roote.
Oshawa replied with single runs in the sixth and seventh, but that’s all it could get off Lagace-Roote, who went the distance with a five-hitter and seven strikeouts.
Jake Mayo helped out with a pair of hits.
Win clinches a medal
Earlier in the day, the Memorials clinched a medal of some colour with a convincing 11-4 five-inning mercy victory over the Newfoundland/Labrador entry from the St. John’s area.
The host team didn’t take long putting itself in the driver’s seat as it scored six times in the bottom of the first inning.
After Newfoundland answered with a run in the top of the second, Stratford added three more in the bottom half of the frame. Memorials added their final two runs in the fourth.
Newfoundland’s bats finally woke up in the top of the fifth. The Easterners scored three runs on five hits, but they couldn’t extend the game.
“They’re a good-hitting ball club,” coach Patterson said. “We knew we had to score a lot of runs and keep our foot on their throats.”
Curtis Leonard, Evan Kerekes and Tim Ruston each rapped two hits as Memorials collected 10 hits and five walks off two N-L pitchers. Leonard and Ruston also knocked in three runs apiece.
Caleb Keeshig scattered nine hits for his sixth win of the tourney.
With Newfoundland eliminated, it left three Ontario teams playing for the medals.
Beat scrappy Quebec team
On Thursday night, the Memorials Midgets advanced to the final four and final day of competition with a 4-3 victory over a scrappy team from Cote Inox, Quebec.
It was a must-win situation for Stratford after losing its playoff opener, 3-1, earlier in the day to Walkerton.
The victory over the Quebec team, which was playing its third game of the day, also gave Memorials another crack at (at least) a bronze medal.
Stratford opened the scoring with a first-inning run when Caleb Keeshig singled home shortstop Curtis Leonard.
After Cote Inox tied the score 1-1 in the top of the third, Memorials regained the lead when Lagace-Roote singled home Leonard. The host team tacked on another run in the fourth as Tim Ruston walked and eventually scored on an infield throwing error.
However, the Quebecers wouldn’t go quietly. They pushed across a run in their half of the sixth, and then tied it 3-3 in the top of the seventh on a two-out, bloop single to right field. The hit came off the bat of Samuel Labrecque, who had received the top batter award earlier in the day.
First baseman Corey Tuffnail emerged the hero for Stratford in the bottom of the seventh when his single up the middle knocked in Leonard from second base.
“I was just looking for (a pitch) down the shoot,” Tuffnail said afterwards.
For Leonard, batting from the lead-off spot, it was his third run of the contest. He also had two of Memorials’ five hits.
Lagace-Roote – who has been plagued with injuries this summer – went the distance for the win, tossing a five-hitter with seven strikeouts.
First loss of the tourney
In their playoff opener Thursday afternoon, Memorials suffered their first loss of the tournament when Walkerton snapped a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Stratford opened up a 1-0 lead in the second on a well-tagged RBI triple by Tuffnail. The Wild tied it 1-1 in the top of the third on three straight hits, and also left the bases loaded.
Three hits, including a RBI double by catcher Jordan Grubb, gave Walkerton its two runs in the seventh. The Wild also had a runner tagged out at the plate.
Memorials’ Evan Kerekes had a pinch-hit double in the bottom of the seventh, but was left stranded.
Walkerton collected 10 hits off Keeshig, who was handed his first pitching loss. Stratford mustered six hits off winning pitcher Tyler Kuntz.
“Now, we need two wins to get a medal,” Patterson noted after the game.
