Beaver Sports
This season, the Napanee Calderwood Automation Express Mite boys took a page from their older counterparts, the Boyer GM Squirt Boys Express, by winning a provincial gold this past weekend in Ponsonby, Ont.
The Calderwood boys started the tournament facing the Baden Pirates with Deke Osterhout leading off the tournament with a home run for the first at bat for the Express. The express jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and would not look back, defeating Baden 10-7. Kayden Thompson pitched a great game.
Game 2 saw the Express play Tavistock. Again, in the bottom of the first, they jumped out to a 9-0 lead on the strength of singles from Osterhout, Owen Kish, Dylan Kemp, Matthew Airhart, Aiden DiFazio, and a double from Logan Willis.
In the second inning, Thompson led off with a home run and the Express secured a 14-0 lead.
In the third inning, the boys were able to mercy Tavistock, cashing in six runs with Tivon James hitting his first home run of the year and bringing in Mackenzie and Mason Pichie who walked and singled respectively.
The Express won 21-0. Dylan Kemp pitched a gem, throwing a two-hitter, striking out eight of the 13 batters he faced.
Game 3 saw the Calderwood team take on Sebringville. The Express jumped out to a 4-0 lead courtesy a three run double from DiFazio.
In second inning, Kemp hit a three run home run to open up a 7-1 lead. Sebringville made it interesting towards the end but the Express held on for a 13-10 victory.
On Sunday, the boys took on the Tara Twins in the crossover semifinal game. In the bottom of the first, the Calderwood team would jump out to a 4-0 lead. Osterhout with a triple, Kish with a double scoring him and Kemp with a bomb of a home run followed by a triple by Airhart who then came around to score.
Kemp helped ice the win as he drilled a grand slam to give them an 11-2 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, with the Pichie boys on second and third and only needing two runs to end the game in a mercy, Cameron Cuthill hit a line drive to right field scoring them both and walking off the game.
The finals would see the Express face Baden once again. The Pirates took an early lead of 1-0 after three innings of play. In the fourth inning Cuthill started the Express off with a double and Osterhout came up and hit a home run to score them both. Kish then hit a double with Kemp and Thompson following up with triples, followed by an Airhart double as the Express capped off a seven run inning. In the top of the seventh inning, with the Express up 7-1, Mackenzie Pichie who was hit by a pitch came around to score off of a Kish dribbler which ended up in a throwing error to extend the lead to 8-1.
Kayden Thompson threw strong all game giving up two hits, with 12 strikeouts.
“We knew from the start of the season, with six returnees, that we would be a strong team, especially with Dylan Kemp and Kayden Thompson throwing for us,” said Express coach Jason Kish. “The returnees losing the gold medal game the year before gave us extra motivation and they led us all year to help achieve this milestone. With the other coaches, Mark Kemp, Scott Thompson and Mike Airhart, we all knew this was a great group and our additions to the team were fantastic and came along way for where we started adding huge contributions all year long. These boys were undefeated all year against other mite teams going 15-0. It was an honour to coach these fantastic athletes and watch them achieve the goal.”