Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s U14 Express boys took home silver at the 2021 U14 Eastern Canadian Championships, held in New Brunswick.
The Express faced off against the Wilmot Thunder in Sunday’s gold medal final, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead but were unable to hold it, falling behind 6-1 after five innings. The Thunder would hang on the clinch the gold.
“It just happened to be (Wilmot’s) day,” said Express head coach Scott Thompson. “Our boys never stopped fighting. We tried to claw back into it a couple of times but they were getting all the bounces and it just happened to be their day. Seemed like no matter what we tried it just didn’t pan out.”
Logan Willis was named Napanee’s player of the game for the final. The Express’ Brody Nielissen was named the tournament’s top hitter while teammate Dylan Kemp was the top pitcher.
Napanee closed out their round robin with a bang, facing the same Wilmot team they’d play in the finals, stunning them with a 4-3 walk-off win. Matthew Airhart was named the Express’ player of the game.
After going undefeated in round robin play the Express kept rolling in the playoffs, defeating Carbonear 11-0 to advance to the finals. Kemp was named the player of the game.
The silver medal was a great way to cap the season for the Express and marked a huge improvement from their first major tournament of the season when they were bounced early from eliminations to finish as Ontario’s third seed.
“It was outstanding to watch them,” said Thompson. “That first tournament was rough after a long layoff and getting back on to the field. They’re a great group of kids. We’ve had them for the Ontario championships they’ve been the ‘A’ champs 2017, 2019 and 2021, every year they’re majors. They know how to work hard and get the job done. We had a great provincials in Napanee, we went the long way around and won there and had a great round robin.”
Because the U14 tournament was played close to where the U19 Eastern Canadians were being held, the younger Express team was able to catch one of the U19 games during their gold medal run.
The U14 Express visited the U19 Express between games at the Eastern Canadians.
“The boys got to go out on the field for their huddle at the end and got to talk to them,” said Thompson. “It’s a great community support here and I really believe it makes a lot of strong leaders and it comes from an outstanding group of coaches here that all work together and at the same time the kids really buy in. When you get to be the older kids, they mentor the younger kids and it’s just great to see. We really have a world class program here.”
The U14 team will have a chance to chase gold next year as the entire team is eligible to return as U15.