The Times Advocate, 2007-09-05, Page 17Wednesday, September 5, 2007
SPORTS
Times—Advocate
17
Lawn bowlers win gold
Canadian champions — The Exeter's Ladies Fours team, made up
of skip JoAnne Bugler, second Gloria McFalls, lead Carol Carter and
vice Maureen Thompson were the winners of the gold medal at the
Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships in Montreal from Aug. 20-25.
(photo/submitted)
MONTREAL — The Exeter's
Ladies Fours team, skipped by
JoAnne Bugler and second Gloria
McFalls accompanied by lead Carol
Carter and vice Maureen
Thompson of the Seaforth club
recently came home with the gold
medal at the Canadian Lawn
Bowling Championships held in
Montreal Aug. 20-25.
Play got under way Aug. 20 for
eight of the nine teams, but the
Ontario 'B' team had a bye and did
not get into action until round two
in the afternoon, playing against
Alberta who went on to win 19-9 in
the three hour, 18 -end game.
Game two was played Aug. 21
against New Brunswick for a 17-9
win. In the evening was game
three which saw the Ontario team
easily handle Manitoba 27-14.
On Aug. 22 two more games
were played seeing a one-sided
game as all the Ontario players
played a strong game on the way
to a 24-6 win over Saskatchewan.
The afternoon was a tighter
match with British Columbia keep-
ing pace with Ontario and tieing
the game on the last end 17-17.
On Aug. 23 the opponents for
Ontario 'B' were Nova Scotia in the
morning and the Ontario 'A' team
in the afternoon.
Both teams were beaten 17-13
and 18-11 respectively by Ontario
'B'.
The last round-robin game for
Ontario was played Aug. 24 versus
Quebec which went in favour of
Ontario 18-11.
The top four teams advanced to
the medal rounds with the top two
playing for gold and the third and
fourth competing for bronze.
Aug. 25 saw the medal rounds
get under way with Saskatchewan
coming to get revenge after losing
the earlier match.
Ontario had a seven point lead
with four ends remaining but
Saskatchewan took two, one plus
three to be one behind playing the
final end which could go either
way.
Ontario was lying four shots wait-
ing for this final bowl from the skip
of the Saskatchewan to be played.
With fingers crossed they
watched the bowl find a hole and
passed through a yard too far giv-
ing the Ontario B the gold medal
with a 20-15 score.
Medal winners — The U9 Exeter Red team capped off a great
finish to their season with an awesome final tournament in Exeter
recently by winning gold with wins over Exeter #2, Grand Bend
and North Middlesex.Front from Ieft:AmandaVerbeke, Zach
Sherman and Lucas Kaumanns. Middle: Chad Crawford, Nicole
Russell, Fraser Fulton,Will Chaisson, Brendan Gordon and Michelle
Russell. Back: coaches FrankVerbeke and Al Gordon. Missing:
Donovan Brewer, Laura Winter, Kristen Winters and Zoe Bilcke.
(photo/submitted)
Express win second OBA
WALLACEBURG — The
Exeter Express claimed their
second straight Senior `D'
title over the weekend in
Wallaceburg at the OBA
championship with a 5-4 win
over Bolton.
"What an incredible turn-
around," said team
spokesperson Joe Fulop.
Game one was against a
powerful lineup from St.
Thomas whose lineup was
enhanced by some
Intercounty players.
Dan Masse was the start-
ing pitcher for Exeter.
St. Thomas took an early
two -run lead on a long oppo-
site field home run in the
first.
The Express rallied for a
run in the second on a single
from Lonnie Hawke and an
RBI single from Masse.
St. Thomas scored another
rim in the second.
The Express rallied for
three runs in the third on
walks to Rob Burke, Bobbie
Grant, a single by Hawke
and a long double by Adam
Leppington to clear the
bases.
It was a matter of seeing if
Masse could hold St. Thomas
back.
He did, pitching a game
that topped anything he has
accomplished over the past
couple of seasons.
He hung tough allowing no
runs on one hit in the final
four innings.
The defense almost cost
him a run in the fifth but
they came through when it
counted as the Express won
4-3.
Game two saw Exeter meet
Forest.
As Exeter had defeated
Forest every time during the
regular season many expect-
ed it to be an easy win but
Forest used their best pitch-
er who held the Express bats
to seven hits.
The Express countered
with Terry Hogg who
allowed only three hits dur-
ing the game.
The Express jumped to a
1-0 lead in the first on sin-
gles from Burke, Grant and
Adam Leppington.
They added a second run
in the second on hits by
Masse and Hogg.
Nerves caused a few prob-
lems for Hogg early in the
game as Forest jumped to a
3-2 lead in the second but he
shut them down after that.
The Express rallied for a
run in the sixth on a walk to
Grant and a single from
Masse and Hogg held Forest
again in the eighth.
Burke led off the inning
with a single and Grant fol-
lowed with a hit to drive in
the winner.
Game three was against
the London Dodgers who's
ace who pitched an excellent
game as the Express could
muster only one run on six
hits.
Burke singled in Hogg
who had reached base earli-
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were
coreswere not able to be run
due to space but will be
in next week's edition of
the T -A.
er on a hit in the third.
The Dodgers came back
with two runs in the third on
a home run and the game
stayed that way as the
Express lost 2-1.
Burke pitched an excellent
game allowing only three
hits.
Exeter gained hits from
Burke with three, as well as
Hawke, Leppington and
Masse.
Game four saw the Express
matched against
Wallaceburg.
It was a pitchers' duel
between their ace and
Curtis Meyers.
Meyers was up to the task
as he held Wallaceburg to a
single run on four scattered
hits.
He dominated, at times,
with his speed and some-
times wildness as
Wallaceburg had only four
hits.
The game was close for
five innings before the
Express bats started to boom
and they scored 10 runs to
win the game 10-1.
Exeter hits came from
Patterson, Scott Smith,
Leppington, Burke and
Grant with two each and
Hawke, Masse and Vic
Oliveira each with one while
Justin Hayter had a home
run.
Game five was against
Essex.
Marty Merner pitched well
for the Express allowing only
one run on five hits for his
first complete game of the
season.
Essex had run out of good
pitching so the Express hit-
ters had a field day totaling
11 hits and six runs.
Express hitters included
Tim Eifert, Masse, Grant
and Burke with one each.
Patterson, Smith and
Leppington had two each
and Leppington had an
inside the park home run.
Hawke completed the hits
with three of his own.
Game six was a rematch
with the London Dodgers.
The Express showed no
mercy in this one as they
pounded the Dodgers 10-1.
Hogg pitched his second
game of the tournament
allowing only four hits and
one run.
The Express scored often
and early on 16 hits.
Leppington had three,
while Patterson, Burke,
Grant, Hayter and Hawke
each had two.
Masse, Oliveira and
Darwin Barker also had one
each.
The players, coaches and
fans who watched the cham-
pionship game will never
forget what happened
between Bolton and Exeter
said Fulop.
The game was filled with
excitement and pressure as
the two teams battled for
eight innings before the
Express prevailed.
The Express started their
Masse with only three days
rest.
Masse was up to the task
as he held Bolton to no runs
for the first six innings on
four hits.
The Express also didn't
score any runs.
The logjam was opened in
the sixth when Masse sin-
gled in Grant for the lead
run.
With the bottom of the
order coming up for Bolton it
appeared that Exeter had
the game in hand.
But two errors, two hits
and six walks later this lead
was lost as Bolton jumped
ahead 4-1.
The Express did not give
up.
They rallied for three runs
in the bottom of the inning
on hits by Vic Oliveira,
Eifert, Patterson and Burke
plus a hit batsman in Grant.
The Express trailed 4-3
with the bases loaded and
no one out when Hawke hit
a sacrifice fly to tie the
game.
The Express then tried one
of the most exciting and
dangerous moves in the
game, the suicide squeeze,
but it didn't work.
The runner was caught in
a rundown and the batter
eventually grounded out.
Burke, who had relieved in
the seventh, was able to hold
Bolton in check.
Like Masse he had played
every game of the tourna-
ment and like Masse before
him he was tired.
If the Express didn't score
a new pitcher would be
needed.
Merner, sore from having
pitched the day before,
gamely warmed up.
The Express started the
bottom of the eighth with a
single by Masse, followed by
a sacrifice by Hayter, a walk
to Oliveira and a hit by
Eifert.
Bolton's defense was ready
to cut off any runners at the
plate but Patterson wrecked
their strategy by hitting a
rocket down the third base
line to drive in the winning
run.
The Express had their
championship after a tough
summer.
It should be noted that one
of the stars of the team, Nate
Burns, who had hip surgery
doggedly followed the strug-
gles of his team through all
but the first game.
Things would have been
easier for the Express had
he been able to play, said
Fulop.
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