New Lowell Knights won an OBA ‘AA’ provincial title after going undefeated in the tournament-style championship held at Kendal on the weekend.
The title game saw the hometown favourite Kendal club take on the Knights. The game however was no contest with New Lowell easily winning 11-1. It was such a mismatch that the mercy rule came into play after the fifth inning.
New Lowell, who are also currently embroiled in a fight for a North Dufferin Baseball League championship with Ivy, played a total of five games and was considerably better than the tourney’s competition, defeating Welland 13-2 in the opener, Kendal 11-0 in the third round and Vaughan 5-1 in semi-finals’ action. The only game that was close was Game 2 when the Knights clipped Peterborough 6-5.
In the previous three seasons, the NDBL team has reached the finals only to watch the opposition hoist the trophy.
The win is the first provincial championship since 1993 when New Lowell won a senior ‘D’ title.
The Aurora Jays also attended the ‘AA’ tournament but bowed out after two games losing to Peterborough 17-3 and Welland 14-5.
Clearview Orioles was another NDBL team vying for provincial honours at the ‘A’ tournament. They made it to the semi-finals being eliminated by Welland 6-2. The Orioles started on the right foot with a 7-0 win over Woodslee and followed with an 8-3 victory over Courtright, they received a bye for the third round. In their next game, Clearview suffered their first loss to a strong Kincardine team 9-3 but still advanced to the semi-finals because of the double knockout rule. A total of six league teams attended the ‘B’ tournament. The Bolton Dodgers was the best of the bunch making the final four.
Both the Creemore Braves and Barons competed at that level too. The Barons won their first two games over Ivy, 4-1, and Bolton, 4-3, then subsequently lost the next two to Wyoming, 9-0, and Bolton, 4-2, to end their dream. The Braves defeated Forest, 4-1, lost to Fort Erie 6-0, picked up a 11-4 win over Harrow and packed their bags after a 3-1 loss to Merritton.
Ivy Leafs and Midland Indians both lost their first two games while the Lisle Astros earned a 4-3 win over Merritton after eight innings in their opener, suffered a 5-0 loss to Wyoming and were eliminated by Bolton.
At the ‘C’ level championship, the Barrie Angels were finalists losing in the championship game to a strong Mitchell team, 7-4.
The Orangeville Giants also had a good showing competing in five games before being knocked out of contention.
A special thank you to the North Dufferin Baseball League management for having the results readily available on their website.