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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1996-07-10, Page 14Page 14 Times -Advocate, July 10, 1996 1 This Week in Sports.A. • Power boats roar into Grand Bend - page 16 • West Middlesex Youth Soccer standings - page 16 1 Imperials shine in provincial championships Exeter Imperials finish 12th at the Ontario Junior Mens Fastball Elimination Tournament in Mitchell EXETER - Playing their best ball of the season the Exeter Imperials, finished twelfth at the O.A.S.A. Junior Men's Elimination Tourna- ment in Mitchell on the weekend. The winner and runnerup of the tournament, which featured the 32 best Junior Men's fastball teams in Ontario, advance to the Canadian Championships which are being held this year in St. John's New- foundland in August. On Friday night, Exeter got off to a good start as they defeated the host Mitchell squad 4-3. They opened the scoring in the third inning as Steve Cook reached base on a one out single and scored on a double by second baseman Sean Pellow. They went up 4-0 in the fourth as Greg Dalrymple opened the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Chris Kennedy and scored as Ben Armstrong reached on an error. Darren Kints also reached on an error and both scored on a single by Cook. Mitchell came back with three runs in the bottom half of the in- ning but were unable to get any closer. Cook led the Exeter offence as he collected three hits in three trips, scored a run and drove in two. He also pitched the complete game victory as he allowed three runs, all unearned, on six hits. He struck out 10 and did not walk a batter. Manager Fred Cook said it felt good to beat Mitchell for the first tine in over a year. "They were expected to beat us but we got timely bits and our pitching came through in the clutch," said Cook. Later Friday night, Exeter con- tinued their strong play as they de- feated Atwood 4-2. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, they erupted for three runs in the second and a run in the third for the vic- tory. In the second, shortstop Greg Dalrymple led off with a single. With two outs, he scored on a two base error on designated player Steve Cook's fly ball to right field. Cook then scored on a single by Glenn Hines who also scored on a throwing error by the Atwood catcher. In the third, catcher Gavin Snell led off with a single and later scored the fourth Exeter run on a pass ball. Kevin Gooder pitched six innings for the win as he allowed two runs on three hits, while walking one and striking out four. Cook picked up the save as he retired the side, in order in the seventh, two by strike- out. Dalrymple was the defensive player of the game making several sparkling plays at shortstop to hold off the Atwood offense. On Saturday, Exeter met Oshawa, who would eventually fin- ish second and advance to the Ca- nadian championships. Oshawa opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning on two hits. They increased their lead in the third as a misplaced fly ball re- sulted in an inside -the -park home run. They then broke it open in the sixth with four runs on three hits, along with a hit batsman. The Imperials offense was over- powered by Oshawa pitcher, J. Sharpe. last year's tournament MVP, as he tossed a perfect game.,,+ will finish strong. Steve Cook took the loss for Exeter as he worked six innings, allowing the seven runs on seven hits, while striking out five and hitting two batters. Saturday night, the Imperials faced Kemptville, who would even- tually finish fifth in the tournament. Once again the opposition got off to a fast start as they plated three runs in the first inning off a tired Cook. Gooder took over in the sec- ond and allowed two run innings in the third and fourth for a 7-1 deficit after five. Pellow allowed an unearned run in the sixth which led to the game being called on the mercy rule with the final score 8-1. Exeter plated a run in the third as Pellow led off with a single and later scored on an infield out. Despite the two lop sided defeats, Manager Fred Cook was pleased with his teams' performance. "They showed they are com- petitive with the best teams in On- tario despite being one of the youngest teams," said Cook. The Imperials entered the tourna- ment with an average age of 20 while many of the teams featured rosters with players in their last (23 years -old) year of eligibility. Cook also comended the player's dedication pointing out that many of them took time off from work to participate. With the experience of the Elim- ination tournaments under their belts the Imperials are looking for- ward to the Ontario Junior 'C' championship which will be NM August 10 and 11 in Merlin. Cook said if they play with the sameintensity he is confident they Hit, Run and Throw Hit, Run Throw. Chris West helps Logan Couture with his batting stance during the Honda Hit, Run and Throw competition on June 30 hosted by Lucan Minor Baseball. Approximately 30 youngsters participated in the popular event now In its second year geared for developing basic baseball skills. The top three contestants move on to the regional finals In St Thomas and those who advance from there will compete at the provincial Hit, Run and Throw cmpetltion held at the Skydome in Toronto. The event was coordinated by Jim Galbraith. Imperials hurler Steve Cook delivers a pitch during the Ontario Junior Mens Elimination Fast - ball Toumament on Friday. Ignoring the odds, Exeter beat Mitchell and Atwood in their first two games. divers set new formation record GRAND- BEND— - -An Exeter man linked up with 49 other skttlitvers on the weekend to help seta Canadian record. Liam Brennan, took part in a 50 person aerial formation over Grand Bend on Saturday which broke the previous na- tional record of a 44 person, one point formation set in 1992. The record breaking jump took place on the second Iasi day of the Canadian National Skydiving Championships host- ed by SWOOP (South Western Ontario Organization of Para- chutists) on Highway 81 near Grand:Bend. The event, which began June 29 brought the country's best skydivers together to compete for a spot on the Canadian For- mation Skydiving Team with winners going on to compete at the world Championships in Turkey nett year. Competitors jumped in eight - way and four-way formation teams, diving for style, ac- curacy and canopy formation where skydivers stack them- selves on top of each other's chutes. The record attempt took place at the end of the competi- tions. Three planes were used to get the parachutists up to 13,500 feet where they needed three attempts before they were able to successfully link 50 dtv- erslree failing at approximate- ly 120 m.p.h for a full 10 sec- onds "It was a good solid 50 way formation," saki Brennan about the record setting jump. "There was some traffic prob- lems (with the first two at- tempts) people were a little anx- ious, but I knew we bad the calibre of skydivers we needed to make it work." On Sunday 24 women sky- divers tried to break the ex- isting record of a 22 women formation, however, they were unsuccessful despite four at- tempts. It took a combined effort of 40 men and 10 women to break the record on Saturday. Brennan said it was an In- credible feeling to be a part of the team and their success will only help the sport of skydiving. "This is going to be good ex- posure. 1 think itA111 get more people inter end= shoW that skydiving is`°essional first dans sport." South paw pitcher too much for Express Exeter Express come up short against Lakeside and lose twice in London tournament EXETER - in an effort to save their strength for an upcoming tournament the Exeter Ex- press used five pitchers during their game against Lakeside last Tuesday but still came up short losing 4-2. This was the second time Exeter met Lake- side. The first time these two teams met, the Express handed the three time league cham- pions their first loss of the season. Looking to avenge the loss Lakeside put their best batters up to the plate but Exeter pitcher Rick Boon had other plans shutting them down for the first three innings striking out one batter, walking another and only al- lowing two weak hits. Mike Agnew took the mound for two in- nings striking out one walking one and al- lowing one run off two hits. Ron Elliot replaced Agnew but didn't finish the inning after allowing three runs off three hits. Scot Russell came to his aid pitching two and a half innings without a hit and Paul Els- ton relieved him also pitching a no hitter in the last inning. In a typical low scoring game Exeter struck first blood bringing a runner home early in the second inning off two hits, but Lakeside re- sponded with a run off two hits in the fifth in- ning and bought horse three more in the sixth. Never giving up. Exeter scored one more in the ninth inning off two hits but couldn't mus- ter two more runs to tie the game. Exeter hits came from, Dan Dowling, Fred Gregus and Bill Glover with two, Marty Merner, Dave Russell and Mike Agnew sin- gled and Don Macdonald doubled twice. Co -coach Joe Fulop said Exeter had several scoring chances outhitting Lakeside 11-6 but couldn't get runners across the plate. London Tournament The Express participated in the London tournament on Saturday but lost 14-6 against Corunna in the first game and 4-1 to Courtright in the second game. Exeter was sitting on a four run lead in the third inning against Corunna but that's when, ac- cording to Fulop, the roof fell in. Fulop said the umpire seemed to tighten the strike zone on the Ex- eter pitchers who couldn't stop the Corunna batters. "it was one of those games where every- thing goes wrong," said co -coach Doug Fair- bairn. Boon, Agnew and Elston shared the mound for Exeter. Hits came from Pawl Smith with four, Mark Russell with two, Boon and Bill Shore each had one and Scot Russell recorded three hits including a blistering home run. in the second game against Courtright Exet- er came up against a south paw with a hard breaking fastball who shut down Exeter's of- fense striking out 10 batters. Fulop said he was the best left handed pitch- er the team has faced so far this year and ac- cording to Fairbairn he was the main reason why they lost that game. "We were every bit as good as them ex- cept for their pitcher," said Fairbairn add- ing the Exeter batting squad did not have enough experience against lefties; especial- ly one ranked at the top of the Western Counties League. Macdonald, Smith, Gregus and Dowling each hit once for Exeter and Memel- and Dan Masse split pitching duties. The Express play Strathmy in an away game on Wednesday before hosting Tillsonhurg at home on Sunday for a double header. The Bast time Exeter met Tillsonburg for a double header, Tillsonburg took both games, however, Exeter was playing with a thin bench. Expecting a full turnout this time around co - coach bong Fairbairn promises their next en- counter will be a much different game.