Cards are OBA major rookie champs

   St. Thomas erases early 4-0 deficit to defeat Northumberland, 9-4, in the final 

By Rob J. Ross

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

ST. THOMAS - When the gloves and hats went into the air, thrown by players celebrating a provincial championship, many thoughts likely raced through their minds. In quick reflection of what occurred, from a lop-sided opening win, to a rain delay, followed by four games in 10 hours and maybe even a flashback to a year ago and the strides the team had made since.

When the dust settled on the diamond, the St. Thomas Cardinals were Ontario Baseball Association 'B' major rookie champions, after coming back to defeat the Northumberland Jacks, 9-4, in final, Monday morning, in Chatham.

"The easy answer is that our defence was spectacular," Cardinals head coach Daniel Leonardes said. "What stood out for me is how well advanced these eight and nine year olds looked out for and supported each other. It was remarkable."

The Cardinals went 6-1 in the double knockout tournament, boosting their overall season record to, 33-10-1.

"Every single kid contributed. I could give you multiple highlights for each kid, offensively and defensively," said Leonardes. "What we get commented on from other teams, is that we have 12 really good ball players."

That's what made selecting a tournament MVP difficult. The coaches felt they had 12 MVP's, so Leonardes is saving the award, a gift card, for the entire team.

St. Thomas entered the final undefeated at 5-0, therefore Northumberland had to win twice. The Jacks spoiled the Cardinals plans for a party Sunday night, with a 7-4 win.

"The guys weren't really down, just a little disappointed," Leonardes said. "I told them 'your efforts put you in a position where you get to play another game'."

Northumberland wasn't going away, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second game on Monday.

"We had 60 people from St. Thomas make the trek down (on Monday). It was loud. It got quiet when they scored four runs in the first inning. We didn't make any errors. They just hit the ball really well," Leonardes said. "Then our defence completely shut it down. We didn't allow a base runner past second for the remainder of the game.

"We went out and played Cardinal D. Then we came in and played Cardinal O (offence) and smashed baseballs."

St. Thomas trailed 4-0 after two innings, before scoring a run in each of the third and fourth innings. Down 4-2, the Cardinals broke loose in the fifth inning.

"We had a batter come up and scream one between second and first and that was the first of nine consecutive hits. We scored six runs to take the lead and never looked back," said Leonardes said.

Amazing the coach was Cooper Henderson, the smallest player on the team, standing about four feet tall. But what Henderson lacks in stature, he more than makes up for with heart, says Leonardes.

"While he may be a little guy, he packs some serious punch in his bat, smacking a two-run double 185 feet to the fence in the fifth inning."

St. Thomas opened the tournament on Friday, with an 11-3 win, over the same Northumberland team they would face again 48 hours later.

"Northumberland is a really good team," said Leonardes. "When we beat them on Friday, we said they are one of the top three teams that we saw all year."

The Cardinals thumped Stratford, 12-2, on Saturday morning, before rain arrived to wipe out the rest of the day's schedule. Next morning at 8 a.m., the Cardinals edged Woodstock, 9-8. Then at 10:15 a.m.,  the Cardinals rallied to beat Welland, 14-13, by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by a two-out two-run single. No time for lunch, the Cardinals instead devoured Woodstock, 16-4, the mustard being a three-run homer by Luke Thomas.

That left the Cardinals undefeated, but having to face Northumberland in a 3 p.m. final.

"We had no turn around time. We played 28 innings of baseball over 11 hours. We had two comebacks victories that were not only physical, but emotional. We kind of ran out of gas."

That simply meant one more game, for a team that was at the diamond 80 days this summer. Along the way, St. Thomas won two tournaments, riding a team batting average of .744. The only hiccup was not faring well in their London and District Baseball Association playoffs.

Winning an OBA title, wipes away those LDBA memories and makes worth the growing pains the Cardinals endured during the 2016 season, a 12-32 overall year.

"When we started last year, I had an entirely new team. We just focused on fundamentals. We were really young and knew we wouldn't compete. Half of the team didn't turn seven (years old) until after the season was over," recalls Leonardes. "Things started to click at the end of last year. This year, they were like I can't believe we just won provincials. There were lots of hugs and tears."