Astros swat Stingers for baseball title

   Mitchell survives late rally to edge Beamsville, 9-8, winning the Ontario Baseball

   major mosquito C championship, for a third consecutive provincial crown

Sunday, September 2, 2018

By Rob J. Ross 

DORCHESTER -  Midway through the Ontario Baseball major mosquito C final, Mitchell Astros' pitcher Dominic Marshall swatted then stepped on a bee that was flying around him. It may have been a sign.

Heading into the seventh inning, Mitchell led 9-4, but the Beamsville Stingers came out buzzing, scoring four runs and moving the potential equalizer to third base. But similar to that bee, Marshall had the final move, forcing a ground out to first base to end the game.

"Things were definitely a little tense and we were running out of pitching. I was down to my last two possible pitchers. We were nervous and they were giving us a battle. That was the bottom of their order and it turned over to the top," said Mitchell head coach Trevor Russwurm. "We were able to keep our emotions in check and battle through it. We were nervous out there because we booted a couple routine balls we probably should have made, but we held it together."

The Astros' 9-8 win in the final, capped a 6-0 run at the provincial tournament. Mitchell outscored their opponents, Wyoming, Uxbridge, Listowel, Ingersoll, Saugeen and Beamsville, 70-28.

"Our bats always seem to come alive in the third our fourth inning. That's when it seems we pull away from teams. Good teams will plays us close for three or four innings, like (Beamsville), then we pull ahead," Russwurm said. "We have a solid batting order from top to bottom. The kids adjust. They see a pitcher a first time. He's fast, they adjust. He's slow, he mixes speeds. They adjust. We taught them to do that."

The game's starting pitchers, Mitchell's Jordan Visneskie and Beamsville's Alex Neufeld, were named most valuable players of the game.

At the plate, Visneskie finished three for three, including a double and triple, a RBI and three runs scored.

The Stingers trailed 9-4 after sixth innings, but similar to that bee, they were not going away easy.

"We had a good game. We just ended up on the wrong side of the score sheet," said Stingers head coach Steve Wiersma. "We were behind for most of the game and battled back at the end. The kids played hard and everyone contributed."

Following a lead-off single from Ryan Vickers, who scored on a Luc Beatty RBI, the Stingers drew a pair of walks to load the bases, before Cole Thompson blooped a single. Gavin Christie grounded out to first base on a fielder's choice, but two runs scored on the play. Matthew Cormier pulled the Stingers to within run, with a two-out single.

 "These kids are resilient. They bounce back," Wiersma said. "We had many games this season where we found ourselves behind and we just never gave up. The kids always kept their heads up. Unfortunately this time, we didn't get all of the way, but we put the pressure on them."

Mitchell struck quickly, combining singles by Visneskie and Jack Miller, a Kellen Russwurm double and Marshall being hit by a pitch, to produce three runs in the first inning.

The teams traded two runs in the fourth inning, leaving Mitchell with a 5-2 lead.

Kellen Russwurm added a RBI in the sixth inning, making it 6-2, but Keegan Priestap was out at the plate attempting to score a seventh run.

Beamsville pushed two runs across the plate in the top half of the sixth inning, including a RBI single from Neufeld.

Mitchell replied with three runs in their half of the sixth, with RBI's going to Joel Meinen, Ben Medhurst and Cody Bach.

Meinen, Russwurm, Bach and Dawson, each had two hits in the game.

For the Stingers, Emerson Pergentile batted two for three, with a double and scored twice, while Christie was two for two.

The core of the Astros' team has now won three consecutive OBA titles. But this year, Mitchell, a D centre moved up to the C level. The Astros also moved to the Intercounty League, featuring teams from Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, and walked away with the league title.

"The 2007 (birth) year in Mitchell had something in the water," said coach Russwurm with laugh. "We won D (major rookie and mixed mosquito), so we felt it was time to challenge them. To win C, we have a special group of kids here. It's been a fun ride."

Coach Russwurm won an OBA title as a player in 1986, but guiding a team of 10 and 11 year olds has more meaning.

"Winning my first one as a coach 30 years later, I honestly felt it was sweeter," said Russwurm. "When you've taught these kids, see them grow year after year and how they develop, it is more satisfying than when I won as a player."