Back Row (L to R) Coaches Henry Dyck, Paul Cornies, Mark Dunford
Middle Row (L to R) Ethan Baker, Gannon Hunter, Sebastian Dunford, Zander Martindale, Owen Grieve, Ben Nemeth, Matthew Cornies
Front Row (L to R) Brayden DaSilva, Owen Anderson, Ottavio Ruggirello, Gavin LeBrun, Reyth Smith

The Kingsville Rookies capped off a great season with absolutely stellar play at the O.B.A. Championships this weekend in Kingsville.  The boys made timely plays in the infield and a large number of great catches in the infield, while also displaying amazing catching skills behind the plate this weekend.  It was a full team effort, as each of the boys made a number of memorable plays building toward the championship.

Friday night the boys got off to a hot start and blasted Dorchester 20-5 to start their weekend.  Owen G. led the offence with a triple, two singles, and six RBIs.  Matthew added three singles and three runs scored.  Zander and Ethan also added three hits, while Sebastian and scored three runs to round out the offensive attack.  Strong defence was displayed throughout the game, and was highlighted by Reyth turning a fine double play to end the game.

Game two saw the locals play a tough Essex team.  Matthew started the offensive attack with a double and quickly followed by Sebastian, Owen G., and an OT triple that plated two runs.  Gannon then roped a double to end the first up 5-1.  The teams traded runs the rest of the game.  Fine defensive work by the infield of Ben, Reyth, OT, Gannon, and Sebastian, helped silence the Essex bats in a close 11-7 win.

A battle of two undefeated teams took place Saturday night against Tillsonburg.  Again, the offence started early with a seven run first inning, highlighted by key two out hits by Owen A., Ben, and Gavin.  Ethan and Brayden continued to anchor the defence with their strong work, behind the plate.  Owen G. and OT, with three hits each, and Matthew and Gavin, with two hits each, and Reyth with three RBIs paced the 16 hit attack in the 14-6 win.

The semi-final Sunday morning was easily the game of the tournament.  A hard fought game, saw Kingsville leading by one in the top of the seventh, only to see Belle River score to tie it up.  In the top of the eighth inning, the visitors scored two runs and all seemed lost.  Ethan, Gannon, Zander each ripped a single and Owen A. roped a two run double to send the game to an eighth inning.  In the top of the ninth, Belle River scored three.  Again the locals battled, as Matthew led of with a single, followed by Sebastian, who was immediately followed by back to back rbi triples by Owen G. and OT to tie it once again.  Off to the tenth inning, where the magic ended and the boys lost a heart breaker 17-12 to a strong Belle River club.

With three teams left, Kingsville got a bye to the final where they again had to face a strong Essex team.  After three fine defensive plays in the first, Reyth drove home Sebastian and OT to put the boys up 2-1.  Tied at two in the second, Gannon erupted with a hard double and was immediately followed on base by Zander, Owen A., Ben, Gavin, and Brayden to make the score 7-2.  Essex slowly inched their way back to make it 8-6 going into the bottom of the sixth.  Zander again started the offence by hustling to third on a misplayed ball and was quickly followed by Owen A., Ben, Gavin, and Matthew to put the rookies up 11-6 going into the final inning.  With three outs to go, Gannon took a grounder himself to first, Reyth snared a popup and with the OBA winning catch, Zander made a fine running back hand of a sinking line drive to seal the championship!

The win capped off a great season of hard work for the boys.  A special thanks goes out to the Kingsville parents and the hundreds of Kingsville fans that attended every game and did a wonderful job of cheering on the local team.  Kingsville Minor Baseball, their grounds crew, and umpires worked together to put on wonderful weekend of baseball for all of the teams in attendance.