Filling in on short notice for the Milton Red Sox, the Oakville A's entered the Vaughan Senior Baseball Tournament looking to capture it's first tournament title in over a year. The A's had a rough showing in 2014, as they went winless in the three tournaments they entered (Lakeside, Hap Walters, and the Eliminations). Hopeful to turn their misfortunes around, the A's were forced to go with a skeleton squad this year due to the short notice of the tournament.

 

 

Game one of the tournament paired the A's up with the #2 Ontario ranked East York Bulldogs (11-2-1) for a 6:00 pm start at Concord baseball diamond #1. The visiting Oakville A's sent veteran RHP Marc Walton to the mound against home team East York RHP Jake Gallo.

 

Oakville struck first as Julian Richards led the game off with an HBP to give the A's a base runner to start the game. A's third baseman Brad hill followed up with a one out single to move Richards into scoring position and give Oakville runners at the corners. Michael Modestino capitalized on the situation, driving a single to right field to plate Richards for the first run of the game. Following a strike out, A's pitcher Marc Walton took a 1-0 fastball to the right field gap to plate two more runs giving the A's an early 3-0 lead. The damage wasn't done however, as Walton advanced to second on a passed ball, then came around to score as center fielder Tommy Biskup began his hot tournament hitting driving Walton in on a two out single to give the A's the 4-0 advantage.

 

Moving to the third inning, Oakville would extend their lead as Brad Hill led off the inning with a single, followed by a one out walk to second baseman Conrad Bach. Both runners would advance to second and third on a ground out to give the A's runners in scoring position as the hot hitting Tommy Biskup would come to the plate. Wasting little time, Biskup took a 1-1 pitch to left center, driving in both runs to give the A's a commanding 6-0 lead.

 

The fifth inning featured the only threat of the night for the Bulldogs, as the would begin the inning with a single to right, followed by a debatable safe call at second base on a ground ball to give the Bulldogs runners at first and second to begin the inning. A ground out to first would advance both runners into scoring position with one out in the inning. The Bulldogs would capitalize on a dropped foul ball by driving in their first and only runs of the game on a single down the left field line making the score 6-2, as the A's would cruise the rest of the way for their first tournament game victory in over a year.

 

Marc Walton toed the rubber looking to collect his first win of the season, and looking for some redemption after taking a tough extra innings loss against East York in the 2014 Eliminations. Thanks to great defense and timely hitting, Walton managed to hold the Bulldogs to three hits, two runs (0 earned), while striking out five on the night. 

 

 

Riding high after their opening game win, the A's entered Saturday with a 10:00 am showdown at Vaughan Grove #2 against the Pickering Red Sox (6-4-1) who ended the A's 2014 Eliminations. Home team Oakville sent rookie LHP Michael Vanderlaan to the mound against visiting Pickering RHP Peter Nash.

 

Oakville carried it's offensive momentum from game one, as they began the bottom of the first inning with a lead off walk by right fielder Julian Richards. Chase Dobbie would move Richards to second with a sacrifice bunt, then advance to third following a wild pitch. Looking to strike first, Brad Hill showed his veteran hitting ability by peppering a ball to the shortstop for a ground out to drive in the first run of the game. With two outs in the inning, A's slugger Jeff Jarockis crushed a ball to the right center gap that narrowly missed leaving the park for a two out triple. Rookie DH Alex Kupchak capitalized on the triple by singling in the A's second run of the inning to give them a 2-0 lead going into the second.

 

Pickering would come right back in the second inning as catcher Eddie Ricciardi would draw a one out walk, followed by a single by left fielder Chris Georges to give the Red Sox some life. Center fielder Eric Wilton would follow the single with a walk to load the bases for the OUA All-Star right fielder Peter Ricciardi. After fouling off some tough pitches, Ricciardi would draw a bases loaded walk to give the Red Sox their first run of the game. Jeff Fox would plate the tying run on a sacrifice fly to left field bringing the power hitting first baseman Jesse Dynes to the plate with an opportunity to break the game open. Michael Vanderlaan would bear down however, and force a popup to first base to end the threat and keep the score tied at two.

 

Entering the bottom of the second, Oakville struck right back thanks to back-to-back one out singles by Tommy Biskup and Courtney Morales. Leadoff hitter Julian Richards would fly out to left, followed by a wild pitch that would move both runners into scoring position with two outs in the inning. An HBP to Chase Dobbie loaded the bases for Brad Hill who would work the count full before taking a pitch for ball four to put the A's up 3-2. Oakville would plate three more in the third as they cruised to the 6-2 win to move to 2-0 for the tournament.

 

Rookie Michael Vanderlaan settled down nicely after a shaky second inning, as he limited the Red Sox to just two runs on three hits, while striking out three for the game. The A's would get a break before heading back to Concord Regional #1 for a 3:00 pm matchup against COBA rival Erindal Cardinals for game three.

 

Game 3:

 

Looking to begin the preliminary rounds undefeated, the visiting A's would be paired up against their longtime COBA rivals the home team Erindale Cardinals (4-10) for a 3:00 pm game at Concord Regional #1. Oakville would send A's player/manager RHP Alex Hawley to the mound against Erindale's RHP Dan Estey.

 

The A's would strike first again in the top of the second inning as Alex Kupchak would lead off the inning with a single to left field to give the A's an early base runner. Tommy Biskup continued his torrid hitting, driving a ball to the left center gap for an RBI double to give the A's an early 1-0 lead. Erindale would strike right back in the bottom of the inning, as shortstop Greg Dodwell would take a fastball deep to left for a game tying home run, bringing the score to 1-1.

 

Moving to the seventh inning with the score still tied at one a piece, Oakville would break the tie as catcher Pat Griffin crushed a leadoff double to the right center gap to give the A's a runner in scoring position. Following a fly out to center, Chase Dobbie placed sinking line drive down the left field line for a double, scoring Griffin to give the A's the 2-1 edge. Two batters later, Alex Kupchak lined a single to right field scoring Dobbie to give the A's the 3-1 lead as Hawley would shut the Cardinals down in the bottom of the seventh to secure the victory for the A's.

 

Veteran pitcher Alex Hawley got the call against the tough hitting Cardinal lineup, pitching masterfully while keeping the Cardinal hitters off-balance all game as he limited them to just one run on just four hits.

 

With a 3-0 record, the A's would move on to the quarter finals against their COBA division rivals the Burlington Brant's with an 8:00 pm game time start.

 

Game 4 (Quarter Finals):

 

Looking to keep the momentum going after their 3-0 start, the visiting A's would face off against the home team Burlington Brant's (4-7-1) in the Quarter Finals at Concord Regional #1. Riding high after narrowly missing a no-hitter last Monday, A's rookie Matt Reagan would take the bump against Burlington RHP Cam Ryerson.

 

Reagan would run into some trouble in the first inning, as the Brant's would strike first in this one leading off the game with a single by the power hitting center fielder Tim Sogan. Trevor Woodjetts would follow Sogan with a single of his own, followed by a walk to catcher Brock Marshall to load the bases. Cleanup hitter Mike Grilli drove in the first run of the game with a single to left, followed by a ground out double play by Kyle Arbuthnott to plate their second run, giving the Brant's the early 2-0 edge.

 

Moving to the fifth, the A's would finally put themselves on the board as first baseman Michael Vanderlaan drove a single to left field with one out in the inning. Julian Richards followed up with an RBI tripled to the right center gap to bring the A's within one. Chase Dobbie would follow Richards triple a game tying single, knotting the game up at 2-2.

 

With the game still tied at two a piece, we move to the eighth as Alex Kupchak began the inning with a leadoff double. With the Brant's expecting a bunt, third baseman Marc Walton would chop a single between short and the drawn in third baseman to move the go-ahead run to third and runners at the corners. Walton would steal second with the infield drawn in to give the A's two runners in scoring position and the hot hitting Tommy Biskup at the plate. Brant's pitcher Jordan Rienzo would get Biskup to pop up to first for the first out of the inning. Burlington elected to walk Pat Griffin to load the bases for a chance at a double play, bringing center fielder Courtney Morales to the plate. Looking to put the ball in play and score the go-ahead run, Morales hit a tough ground ball that was misplayed by the second baseman, plating both Kupchak and Walton to put the A's up 4-2 as they entered the bottom of the eighth looking to close it out. Matt Reagan would shut the door on the Brant's to secure the victory for the A's as they advanced to the semi finals with the 4-2 win.

 

The A's would head home after three hard fought victories on Saturday to get some rest as they would have to face off against the tough Etobicoke Rangers for a semi final date at 10:00 am on Sunday at Vaughan Grove #2.

 

Game 5 (Semi Finals):

 

Beaten, battered, and worn down, the Oakville A's with their short bench and no pitching left entered Sunday's semi finals against a full Etobicoke Rangers (9-6) squad looking to try and move on to their first tournament finals in over a year. With no pitching left, the visiting A's were forced to send RHP Marc Walton back to the bump against home team Etobicoke RHP Andrew Perryman.

 

After a clean first inning, Etobicoke's offense came alive as they scored three in the second, four in the third, two in the fourth, and eventually three more in the fifth for the 12-2 mercy victory ending the A's Cinderella story of winning the Vaughan Tournament. Oakville sent three pitchers to the hill, all of which had just come off complete game victories. Marc Walton, Matt Reagan, and Alex Hawley were unable to slow down the power hitting lineup of the Rangers.

 

The A's have nothing to hang their heads as they were forced to play with a shortened lineup due to the short notice of the tournament. With every player forced to play every game, they played extremely well as they grinded their way to a 4-1 record in the tournament. 

 

Aside from the excellent pitching performances through the first four games of the tournament, the A's offense made the job easy for their short staffed arms. Some notable performances included:

 

Tommy Biskup: 6-for-15 (.400), 1 2b, 4 RBI, 1 R

Coutrney Morales: 4-for-10 (.400), 1 2b, 1 RBI

Alex Kupchak: 5-for-13 (.385), 2 2b, 2 RBI, 3 R

Chase Dobbie: 6-for-17 (.353) 1 2b, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 SB

 

As a whole, the offense was running on all cylinders as every player played a key role in the teams success. As tough as it is to play every game in the infield or outfield, Pat Griffin really toughed it out as he was forced to catch four straight games behind the plate during a hot weekend.

 

With little time to lick their wounds, the A's have to get back down to business as they have a Monday night division matchup against the Milton Red Sox (3-9), with a 7:30 pm start at Oakville Park.

 

Go A's!