Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Storm clouds washed away the AFW Napanee U18 Express’ chance for gold at the OASA Eliminations in Owen Sound, but not before they clinched their spot at Nationals.
Napanee held a 2-0 lead over Chepstow in Sunday’s finals before pouring rain put an abrupt end to the tournament. By virtue of their better head-to-head record, Chepstow was crowned the winner with Napanee winning silver. The Caledonia A’s took home the bronze.
Napanee opened the tournament with an 8-5 win over the Tara Titans in another game that was interrupted by wet weather. First pitch of the that game took place at 9 a.m. with the final out not recorded until 4 p.m. due to two separate rain delays.
That win advanced the Express to a meeting with the second ranked Caledonia A’s, needing just a win to secure their spot in Nationals. Riley Manion delivered a strong performance on the mound, shutting down the powerful A’s bat. James Martell led off the game with a solo home run for the Express and Manion helped his own cause with a monster three-run blast, all part of a six run first inning.
Kyle Weese had three hits to pace the offense.
Kael Fredenburgh launched a solo home run to help the Express to a 12-2 victory in five innings.
On Sunday the Express took on Chepstow in the undefeated game. The tournament favourite Chepstow club, made up of mostly second year players, also boasts eight potential members of Team Canada’s U18 Fastpitch team.
Napanee’s Brendan Hagerman put his club up early with a two run blast to help put the Express up 3-0. Chepstow cut into the lead with a solo homer and entered the sixth inning trailing 3-1. That’s when some shaky defense by the Express allowed Chepstow to score four runs on just two hits to take the 5-3 lead. Those miscues proved costly as Napanee was unable to rally and suffered their only loss of the weekend, losing 5-3.
They had a second shot at Chepstow right after and were leading 2-0 before the game was officially rained out, ending the tournament.
The Express will look to exact some revenge when they travel to Nationals, which will take place Aug. 16-20 in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island. They will be joined by Chepstow and Caledonia as the Ontario representatives in the national tournament.
Based on their strong showing in Owen Sound, both Manion and Hagerman earned invites to Canada’s Junior Men’s National team tryout, which will take place Aug. 21-25.