Adam Prudhomme
Editor
If the Napanee U20 Express are going to clinch gold on home turf, they’ll have to take the long way.
Playing for a direct trip to the finals on Saturday night at the Fairgrounds, the Express suffered their first loss of the tournament, getting doubled up by the Tavistock Athletics 12-6.
Napanee was chasing the Athletics all game, falling behind 2-0 in the first only to rally back with two of their own in the home half. The Athletics began to pull away with three in the third and fourth, but Napanee wasn’t ready to concede just yet. They rallied for four in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 8-6.
There would be no huge comeback however as the Athletics scored two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to seal the win. Aaron Waugh, Drayton Howell and Blair Bender each drove in two for the Athletics. Tavistock outhit Napanee 14-8, the first team to record more hits than Napanee in a tournament as well.
Tavistock came into the tournament as Ontario’s top team, having bested Napanee at the eliminations earlier in the season. If Napanee is to win gold, they’ll have to go through the Athletics in the finals.
First things first, Napanee will now have to play a win-or-get-eliminated game Sunday morning at 11 a.m. They’ll face the winner of the Rosebud Junior Royals and Hagersville Haldimand Heat, which gets underway at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
The winner of Sunday’s 11 a.m. game advances to the finals, which gets underway at 2 p.m. Sunday.