Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Able to best the top ranked Simcoe Braves to reach the finals of the U14 Fast Pitch Canadian Championships in Stouffville, the Napanee Peewee Express fell short in a bid to repeat that feat in the gold medal game.
Instead they would up with a still impressive national silver medal.
Napanee had topped the Braves 6-5 the night before to reach Sunday’s gold medal final. They were able to build on that momentum early in the gold medal game as Gavin Brooks doubled in Ben Albright in the home half of the first for an early 1-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the Braves erupted for four in the top of the third. Napanee was able to scratch out a run in their half of the inning when Brady McCann doubled in Lucas Thompson to cut the deficit to 4-2.
That’s as as close as they’d get however as the Braves tacked on three more and hung on for the 7-2 victory.
“The boys played great all weekend,” said Express head coach Scott Thompson. “It was a real total team effort. Everybody played their part whether it was coming in to run, hit or bunt or whatever we needed them to do.”
Napanee entered the weekend’s playoff round on a roll after going 6-2 in the round robin.
“The championship had a lot of strong teams,” said Thompson. “All four Ontario teams placed one through four, Newfoundland’s team put up a really good fight against us, the Saskatchewan team actually beat us in the round robin. The boys did a good job of coming back after a couple of tough losses on Wednesday and pushing hard through the finals.”
One of those losses was a mercy rule defeat at the hands of the same Braves team they’d beat in the playoff round before meeting again in the finals.
In their first playoff game they were able to rally from an early 3-0 hole against the Shallow Lake-Owen Sound Selects to win 9-7. After giving up three runs in the top of the first the Express scored in each of the next five, including two in the third and fifth and three in the fourth. Brooks led the way with a triple and four RBI while Ethan Sutcliffe drove in a pair and Albright, McCann and Ty Kemp each knocked in one. McCann picked up the win with 3.2 innings pitched. Brooks closed it out with three innings of one run ball.
Later that evening they met the Braves in what would prove to be a finals preview. Napanee scored once in the first and second and added a pair in the third for a 4-0 lead. The Braves chipped away with two of their own in the third. After Napanee added one in the fifth the Braves responded with two of their own in their half of the inning to cut the lead to 5-4. The two teams traded runs in their final at-bat with the Express able to squeak out the 6-5 victory.
McCann and Brooks each drove in a pair while Bryson Gilpin and Will Myers each had an RBI. Brooks picked up the win.
Along with their silver medals, a trio of Express players took home individual awards as well. Brooks was named the round robin’s top pitcher, Aiden Reddick an all-star centre fielder and McCann was the tournament’s top hitter.
With nationals now behind them, the Express will look to finish their season with the league playoffs to close out their summer.