Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
A last inning, three-run rally in the semifinals of the OASA U12 Provincials helped the Napanee Boyer GM Express leave Innerkip as silver medalists this passed weekend.
Trailing Wilmot by a pair of runs heading into their final at bat with a trip to the finals on the line, the Express strung together enough hits to seal an 8-7 walk-off victory.
They’d fall to Drumbo in the finals, but still left with silver medals for their effort.
“The team that won the gold medal was a very strong team with great pitching and hitting,” said Express head coach Stephen Paul. “They’re going to be our number one competitors for a lot of years.”
On their way to the finals the Express topped Tavistock 10-0, Baden 16-3 and New Hamburg 8-0 before squeaking out the victory over Wilmot in the semifinals. All in all a strong showing for the up and coming 12-year-old and under Express and the perfect precursor for Softball Napanee as they get set to host the U19 Fast Pitch Canadian Championship this week.
“That’s what’s so exciting for fast pitch in our area and the Softball Napanee organization,” said Paul. “Our team is 11 and 12 year olds, for them to have the opportunity to see brothers playing in a national championship and other friends playing in the organization certainly provided motivation for them this weekend and they played extremely well. Coming second in the province is a great feat.”
Already playing at a high level, this core group figures to only get better as they age.
“There’s certainly some high expectations of this team in particular doing some great things in the future,” said Paul.