John O'Keefe Memorial Consolation Champions, News (Goderich Minor Baseball)

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Jul 28, 2014 | ryoung | 1615 views
John O'Keefe Memorial Consolation Champions
During the weekend of July 26 and 27 Goderich Major Rookie Black hosted and played in the John O'Keefe Memorial Tournament.  The tournament included five Major Rookie Tier One teams and the competition was very strong throughout the entire weekend.  Coming into this tournament the players had their minds set on turning their season around and doing something special.

The first game Saturday was an early 9:00 start time for Goderich as they played Exeter.  Exeter was able to control the game from start to finish in this one as the game would finish with a 25-6 score.  The offense this game came from Kellen with three singles and a run scored, Owen S with a double, triple, two runs and two rbi.  Mitchell had a double, single and a run scored, John had two singles with a run scored.  Iain had a double with two rbi, Zach had a single with a run and Owen D had a single with an rbi.  Kaelan, Graham and Kael each added in a single, while Ty had an rbi.  The player of the game as chosen by the Exeter coach was Owen S.

The next game would find Goderich facing off with a very strong Mitchell team who would be playing their first game of the day at 1:00.  This game had an exciting start as Owen S would blast a three-run home run in the top of the first inning, however Goderich would allow Mitchell to score the league maximum seven runs in the bottom half of the inning and would be trailing 7-3.  By the time the fourth inning would complete Goderich would find themselves down 11-4.  The top of the fifth inning the Seahawks were able to mount a rally and score seven of their own runs and tie the game up 11-11 and get some momentum going for them.  Unfortunately for the team though, Mitchell would simply be too strong this game and would string together more runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth and sixth which would give them the 23-11 win.  Although the outcome wasn't what the team would have liked, the team played what was quite possibly one of their best games of the year to that point against a strong Mitchell team.  The offense this game would come from Owen with a home run, three singles, three rbi and two runs scored, Kaelan with four singles, three runs and an rbi, Graham with two doubles, a single, two rbi and a run scored.  Iain had three singles with two rbi and a run scored, Owen D had three singles with an rbi.  Mitchell had a double, single and an rbi, John had two singles and two runs scored, Zach had two singles with a run scored, Kellen added in two singles and Ty had a single with an rbi and a run scored.  The player of the game as chosen by the Mitchell coach was John for his strong play at first base.

After the first two games Goderich would need a lot of help from their Mitchell foes to be able to advance to the semi-finals on Sunday.  Mitchell would play St Mary's in the final game on Saturday at 5:00.  Goderich would need Mitchell to win by 22 runs to be able to advance, something that most Seahawks players didn't think would be possible.  When the dust settled on the diamond after the final game Saturday, Goderich would find themselves moving on to play Sunday in the semi-final after Mitchell defeated St Mary's by 25 runs, therefore eliminating St Mary's and giving Goderich their chance to come back Sunday and try again to make something special happen.  The standings after the teams would all play two games would find Mitchell in first, Listowel in second, Exeter third, Goderich fourth and St Mary's fifth.

Sunday morning at 10:00 Goderich would find themselves paired up with the first place Mitchell squad for the semi-final game.  Goderich played a strong game defensively, however Mitchell's defense was almost unbreakable, which gave them the upper hand in this game from start to finish.  The Seahawks would try to mount an exciting comeback in the seventh and final inning, however it would be too late and Mitchell would end up walking away with a 15-9 win.  This game showed the players, coaches and fans what steps this team was beginning to take though.  They were narrowing the gap game by game on the weekend, losing the first by 19, then 12, then six runs in this game against a very strong Mitchell team.  Goderich had no reason to hang their heads as they played a hard nosed game as well.  This was a promising look heading into the Consolation Final.  The offense this game would come from Iain with a double, three singles and two runs, Mitchell with a bases loaded triple, two singles, three rbi and a run scored, Aaron with a double, two singles and two rbi, Owen S with three singles and two rbi.  Owen D and John each had two singles with two runs, while Zach had two singles with a run scored.  Ty added in two rbi with a run scored and Graham had a single.  The player of the game as chosen by the Mitchell coach was Aaron for his strong play at shortstop.

In the other semi-final game Listowel would defeat Exeter to set up a Consolation Championship Final between Exeter and Goderich.

This game would be a very exciting game as it would be a battle from start to finish.  Scores inning by inning would see Goderich up 2-0 after one, tied 7-7 after two, up 8-7 after three, thanks in large part to Mitchell's lead-off triple and exciting tag-up and score play on a fly ball to the Exeter third baseman catching them sleeping.  After a fifth inning where both teams would bring in some runs, Goderich found themselves down 14-13.  In the sixth Goderich would pull ahead in the top half and shut Exeter down in the bottom giving the Seahawks a 17-14 lead heading into the last inning.  Knowing they were very close to wining this game and wanting more runs, Goderich came out in the top of the seventh inning and brought six more runs across and held Exeter to five in the bottom of the final inning giving them an exciting and well deserved 23-19 win.  This was definitely the most well played game by the team in the season and something they came build on.  Goderich defeated a very strong Exeter team with Mitchell and Listowel watching the game, knowing they just saw what Goderich is capable of.  This is a very special team who can compete with any team in the league when they buckle down and do what they're capable of doing.  This team gave the fans a great game to end a very well played weekend of baseball.

Once again these boys have made the entire town of Goderich proud and represented the Seahawks colours well.

Congratulations Seahawks, you deserve this win!

Goderich Seahawks Major Rookie Black - Tier One
John O'Keefe Memorial Tournament Consolation Champions

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