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The Citizen, 2012-10-04, Page 8PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012.Sports Stingers take top spot in HCFL The Belmore Stingers are the Huron County Fastball League champions for 2012. The Stingers who finished eighth in the regular season needed two games to dethrone the 2011 champion Walton Brewers. The Brewers took the first game of the A-B final, 9-1 in five innings, but the Belmore bats came to life in the second game as they scored a 9-5 decision over the Brewers. The Brewers finished the regular season in fourth place. The Stingers held a 6-0 lead after the first inning. T. Fisher had a home run and triple for the Stingers. Kris Wright hit a triple, double and single, while James Needham rapped out three singles and N. Mawhinney had a double and single. Kyle Wright had a pair of singles while B. MacPherson connected for a double and Jordan Grubb rapped out a single. Kris Wright went the distance on the mound for the Stingers. Jamie Wicke had a home run and triple for the Brewers and Scott Leonhardt connected for a double. Rapping out one single apiece were Jeff Smith, Scott McDonald, Jeff Robinson and Darryl Houston. Scott Leonhardt started on the mound. Jeff Smith took over in relief. Belmore coach Dave Eadie said the key to the team’s success was an all-around team effort. “Good hitting, good pitching, good defence, everybody played well, very well,” he said. Despite finishing the regular season in eighth place, the Stingers were able to claim the league championship. “It just goes to show it doesn’t matter where you finish during the year, you always have the opportunity to win the championship,” said Eadie. “We were pleased. We’re very proud of these guys.” Walton coach Paul Dolmage said it would have been nice to win the last game, but Belmore came out swinging the bat. “You can’t take anything away from them,” he said. The Brewers had to play three consecutive games and Dolmage said they didn’t have anything left for the third game. “We had to win three good ball games to get this far and we just didn’t have to pull it out,” he said. According to the coach, the week delay in the tournament helped his team. In the first final, Darryl Houston smacked a pair of home runs as the Brewers defeated the Stingers 9-1 in five innings. Barry Young connected for a home run and triple and Smith clouted a home run. McDonald connected for a triple and Wicke had a double and single. Robinson rapped out a single. Leonhardt went the distance on the mound for the Brewers. Walton advanced to the championship final by getting past the Brussels Tigers 1-0 in the B final. Jeff Smith’s solo home run in the sixth inning that was needed to win the game. Rapping out singles for the Brewers were Leonhardt, Young, Robinson and Houston. Jeff Smith started on the mound and Leonhardt took over in relief. Corey Campbell hit a triple for the Tigers with Jamie Hickling and Ty Sebastian each rapping out singles. Shawn Daw started on the mound and Sebastian came on in relief. Tigers’ player-coach Doug Shaw said they were unable to get the hits back-to-back in the two games played Saturday. “We hit the ball well, nothing was falling in for us,” he said, “other than that we played great.” S h a w said the week delay in the tournament had an effect on the Tigers in that they didn’t seem to be quite as ‘pepped up’ for the games. “It took us a while to get into it,” he said. “We had a good year.” The Tigers lost the A final to the Belmore Stingers, 3-0, with pitcher Kris Wright hitting a home run for the Stingers. Jason Kellington had a double and single for the Tigers, with Andrew Baker hitting a double. Jamie Hickling rapped out a pair of singles and Brian McArter and Doug Shaw contributed one single apiece to the offence. Ty Sebastian started on the mound for Brussels, with Daw taking over in relief. In the first game of the day, Leonhardt threw a one-hitter as the Walton Brewers edged the Wingham Hitmen 1-0. He recorded 13 strikeouts. Leonhardt drove in the only run of the game with an RBI triple in the sixth inning. Houston also hit a triple and Wicke was 2-3 at the plate. By Jim Brown The Citizen Brewers ousted by Stingers The Walton Brewers couldn’t hold on to their championship spot as they were ousted in two games in a double elimination final against the Belmore Stingers on the weekend. The games were held over from earlier in September due to rain. (Jim Brown photo) Lightning lossless in round robin, eliminated after Saugeen Maitland PeeWee AA travelled to Oshawa last weekend to compete in the Oshawa Lady Generals Fall Classic hockey tournament. This was the first real test of the season for the girls and they certainly rose to the occasion. Their first game saw the girls face a strong Peterborough team. After withstanding a flurry of offence by Peterborough in the first five minutes of the game which saw Saugeen goalie Julia Beaven turning away several shots, the Lightning settled down and played some strong hockey. The girls’ determination paid off in the third period when Kincardine native Hana Solinger was able to put the puck past the Peterborough netminder off an excellent pass from Janelle Smeltzer. The game finished up with strong pressure by Peterborough, but Beaven, the eventual game MVP, was able to keep the shutout earning Saugeen Maitland a 1-0 victory. The game also saw strong performances from defensemen Laura White, Leah Herrfort and Kincardine native Emma Swift with Seaforth native Jamie Nolan playing a determined effort up front. Saugeen then faced a very strong Vaughan Flames team who had just come off a 5-0 victory against Oshawa. Vaughan controlled the play for much of the game, but the Lightning played strong and hard. Saugeen goalie, Ashley Brydon between the pipes for this game, turned away several excellent Vaughan scoring opportunities. Vaughan was finally able to put the puck behind Brydon halfway through the third period off of a rebound, putting the Flames up 1-0. The girls were rewarded with some excellent scoring chances as the time ticked away. Finally with only 28 seconds to go in the game, Durham native Kelsey Mighton, on what seemed an impossible angle, put the puck in the back of the Vaughan net tying the exciting game. The goal was set up with a right side rush by Jamie Cunningham. The game ended in a 1-1 tie and with fans of both teams agreeing that it was one of the most exciting games they had ever witnessed. Strong efforts were given by many especially defensive players Kara Colhoun and Mattie Shipp and equally strong performances up front from Madison Beishuizen and Alyssa Andrews. With her strong performance in the crease, Ashlee Brydon deservedly earned the MVP honours. The third and final game of the round robin action saw the Lightning face the host Oshawa team. Oshawa had suffered earlier losses to Vaughan and Peterborough, and was determined to fight hard for redemption. The start of the game saw the Lightning apply strong pressure to the host squad which rewarded Saugeen with two goals in the first. The first came from Smeltzer and the second came from the strong effort of Kesley Mighton. Halfway through the second period there was a change in the momentum, as the Lightning started showing what possibly could be described as early season fatigue. Oshawa was able to tie the game up with two quick goals in the final minutes of the second period. The third period was relatively evenly matched with both teams having some scoring opportunities, but at the end of the game neither squad were able to break the 2-2 tie. Natalie Gallagher demonstrated why she wears the C on her jersey by playing a very strong game on defence while having a touch of the flu bug. Cunningham and her gutsy style of play earned her the MVP award in this match. Leaving the round-robin portion of the tournament undefeated and in second place in their pool, the Lightning faced a strong Nepean team. Saturday evening’s game between the Lightning and Nepean was a hard-fought contest, with Nepean controlling the majority of the play with very effective puck movement. On the Saugeen side, strong performances from many of the girls, including Megan Wilton and Smeltzer, kept the Lightning in the game. In the end though, the Nepean girls were able to get two goals by Saugeen netminder Beaven, whose strong effort turned away several other key scoring opportunities. The 2-0 loss, translated to an end of the play for the Saugeen girls in this tournament. Earning the MVP award for this final game was star forward, Janelle Smeltzer. After the weekend events, Coach Tony Swift was heard commenting to the girls that the coaching staff was very happy with their efforts. Facing some of the strongest teams in the province, the girls demonstrated that they were competitive and could hold their own. BMG Community Centre Zumba Classes & Adult Volleyball Call the arena if you have a team to register or you would like to be put on a team Zumba Classes starting Thursday, October 4th 7:00 - 8:00 pm Volleyball starting Tuesday, October 16th 7:00 - 8:00 pm Call Arena for more info 519-887-6621 The Saugeen Maitland Midget AA Lightning blanked the visiting Bluewater Hawks 4-0 in their final pre-season match Saturday afternoon in Wingham. Despite being down a couple of forwards, the Bolts controlled the game from the outset. Jamie Simpson opened the scoring on a low point shot that found the corner of the net. Cassidy Colhoun gained the only assist. Miranda Lantz then scored on a goal-mouth scramble assisted by Kailyn Soers and Courtney Surridge. Then while filling in at forward, Soers scored the prettiest goal of the game on a beauty cross-ice pass from Tori Terpstra. Simpson earned her second point of the game with an assist on the play. Dawn Pletsch scored the final goal of the game, banking one in off a Hawk defenceman’s skate. Morgan Baker and Shea Tiley shared the goaltending duties, stopping all shots to earn the shutout. Next Saturday, the Lightning open their regular season against the Sarnia Sting at 2 p.m. in Teeswater. Follow the Lightning results at www.saugeenmaitlandlightning.com Midgets blank Hawks