(Submitted) The Dufferin-Simcoe Rockers travelled to Charlottetown, PEI this past weekend and won the Canadian National Oldtimers Baseball championship in the 50+ age category. It was their fourth Canadian championship, having won three previous times in the 44+ age group.
The Rockers completed the round robin portion of the tournament with two wins, one tie and one loss. They defeated Scarborough (Ontario) 11-1 and Pleasant Valley (Nova Scotia) 7-6, tied the Nova Scotia Monarchs 8-8 and lost to Spring Lake (Alberta) 6-2.
They met Spring Lake once again in the semi-finals, and this time, with superior pitching and flawless defense, earned a 3-0 victory, putting them into the finals against their Ontario rivals from Oakville.
The Rockers opened the scoring with one run in the top of the first inning to take an early lead. Oakville scored three runs in the bottom of the third, but the Rockers answered quickly with three runs in the top of the fourth to regain the lead 4-3. The Rockers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning and appeared to have the championship in hand, but a determined Oakville team battled back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at 5-5 and force extra innings. The game remained tied until the tenth inning when Dufferin-Simcoe finally scored three runs, all of them coming after two outs. Oakville failed to score in the bottom of the inning and the Rockers took the Championship with an 8-5 victory.
The Rockers are a group of local players who played their senior ball in the North Dufferin and South Simcoe baseball leagues. They are already looking forward to defending their title next year when the Championship will be held in Edmonton.