On Father’s Day weekend, the Bloordale Bombers Minor Mosquito Rep Team headed to Niagara Falls, Ontario to face 15 other teams from southern Ontario for a tournament hosted by the Greater Niagara Baseball Association. The young Bombers met familiar adversaries in round robin play, facing Georgina Bulldogs, Barrie Red Sox (Tier 2) and the Bolton Braves.
In the opening game on Friday evening, Georgina took an early lead, however Bloordale were able to shut them down in the middle innings thanks to some great pitching by Adam, until the offence got their bats swinging to best Georgina by a score of 8-3.
In the second game, Bloordale faced Barrie who again got an early lead getting two runs in the first. Barrie proved to be a tough opponent but solid pitching performances were able to keep them under control. Daniel crushed a solo home run in the fourth inning to keep the Bombers close, but Barrie did manage to go up 8- 4 going into the bottom of the sixth and final inning. The kids didn’t fold but battled hard, taking a couple of walks and a timely hit by Curtis were able to plate four runs to tie the game at 8.
In Bloordale’s third game, they faced the Bolton Braves and this time it was Bloordale who scored 10 runs in the second inning to take a commanding lead. The Braves fought back trying to chip away at the lead but the Bombers, with Josh on the mound, held them at bay for a 17-5 victory.
After round robin play, Bloordale had tied Barrie in points, but advanced to the elimination round over Barrie with a better Runs Allowed ratio.
In the semi-finals, Bloordale faced another old and formidable rival in the North Toronto A’s. After one inning of play, the A’s held a 4-2 lead. A tight battle followed including some fine pitching by Jonathan and teams were dead-locked at 5 aside after four innings. The A’s jumped way ahead with 4 runs in the top of the fifth, but the young Bombers answered back scoring 3 runs in the home half of the fifth. The sixth inning was scoreless for both teams. The A’s came up to the plate for the seventh inning, however Bloordale’s pitcher, Nicholas sat them down three in a row. Bloordale were down a run going into the bottom of the seventh. Madison got Bloordale’s first hit of the inning, which later turned out to be the game tying run. Bloordale kept the offence moving with walks and singles until Justice was able to drive in the game-winning run to take the game 10 to 9.
Bloordale now advanced to the finals to face the Barrie Red Sox (Tier 1) team. But first they had time for Father’s Day tail-gate BBQ before the game. Once the game started, the Bombers wasted no time jumping to 3-0 lead after one inning and strong Bloordale pitching by Liam were able to hold the lead to 3 to 1 after three innings of play. However, the strong Barrie team were able to tally 17 runs over the next four innings. The Bloordale players were down but didn’t quit. They later innings saw Bloordale use two pitchers in their pitching debuts, including some hard thrown fastballs from Logan. The offence didn’t quit either, scoring a run in the fourth and four more in the fifth. The game ended as a 18 to 8 (seven inning) victory for the strong Barrie team, but it was also a victory for the Bloordale Minor Mosquito team. All players showed a tremendous amount of grit and perseverance.
The coaching staff and parents were all proud of our young players throughout the entire tournament.