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Hawks 15U Elite fall just short of qualifying for Nationals
2017-08-08
The Hawks were this close to being the last team standing after a marathon Baseball Ontario Bantam Eliminations tournament over the August long weekend winning six games before falling in the championship final.
Baseball Canada hosts a handful of national championships each year including at the 13U (major peewee) and 15U (major bantam) age groups. Club teams qualify for these events by winning their provincial qualifying tournament. In Ontario, these tournaments are the Baseball Ontario Eliminations, aka the Elims, and are often considered the toughest tournament to win due to the number of teams, the quality of the teams, and the resulting marathon-nature of the double-elimination format.
The 2017 Hawks 15U Elite team entered this year's Elims from Aug. 4-7 focused on a three-peat of sorts as they had won the 13U Elims in 2015 (where they represented Ontario at the Nationals in Montreal) and then captured OBA Minor Bantam AAA championship rings in 2016.
After the Hawks opened the tournament with a 5-0 win vs. Ottawa, they suffered an early defeat to London by a score of 6-2.
Knowing another loss would mean elimination, the Hawks put together an amazing run of five consecutive 1-run wins, each one eliminating their opponent due to a second loss for that team:
In the field of the top 22 Bantam teams in Ontario, the Hawks played the most games (8 in all vs. 7 by Vaughan who drew the extra bye) and they were one of two teams who had to play 3 games in one day.
Congratulations to players Luke, Mitchell, RJ, Reid, Zack, Brad, Jaden, Connor, Matthew, Brycen, Grant, Russell, and Jesse and coaches Doug, Brian, Rob, and Rich for their outstanding effort to earn the Elims silver medal while proudly representing the Newmarket Baseball Association.
The 2017 Hawks 15U Elite team entered this year's Elims from Aug. 4-7 focused on a three-peat of sorts as they had won the 13U Elims in 2015 (where they represented Ontario at the Nationals in Montreal) and then captured OBA Minor Bantam AAA championship rings in 2016.
After the Hawks opened the tournament with a 5-0 win vs. Ottawa, they suffered an early defeat to London by a score of 6-2.
Knowing another loss would mean elimination, the Hawks put together an amazing run of five consecutive 1-run wins, each one eliminating their opponent due to a second loss for that team:
- 10-9 vs. Stouffville (9 innings)
- 5-4 vs. Kitchener
- 11-10 vs. Brampton
- 5-4 vs. Markham (10 innings)
- 5-4 vs. North York
In the field of the top 22 Bantam teams in Ontario, the Hawks played the most games (8 in all vs. 7 by Vaughan who drew the extra bye) and they were one of two teams who had to play 3 games in one day.
Congratulations to players Luke, Mitchell, RJ, Reid, Zack, Brad, Jaden, Connor, Matthew, Brycen, Grant, Russell, and Jesse and coaches Doug, Brian, Rob, and Rich for their outstanding effort to earn the Elims silver medal while proudly representing the Newmarket Baseball Association.