Good Vibes on Main Minor Peewee Hawks finalists in back-to-back tournaments

The 2014 Newmarket Minor Peewee Hawks, sponsored by Good Vibes on Main, just completed a very successful stretch of 13 games in 10 days with a 9-4 record and two finalists trophies.

 

On the weekend of May 23-25, the Hawks entered the Mississauga Majors tournament with only one regular season game under their belt (a victory against the Pickering Cubs) due to the wet spring weather.  The Hawks shook off any rust by winning all three of their preliminary round games vs. Georgetown, Waterloo, and Mississauga, and followed up with another win over Waterloo in the semi-finals.  The Hawks took flight quickly in the final vs. Pickering taking an early 8-2 lead, but a tip of the cap to Pickering who clawed back and tied the game at 8-8 and then took the championship in extra innings.  The final score was 9-8 for Pickering in eight innings.

 

After this tough loss against Pickering, a tired Hawks team resumed YSBA league play on the following night in Vaughan (a rare 8:30 p.m. start).  A back and forth game saw Vaughan eventually emerge with a 12-9 win, but the highlight of the night was a triple play pulled off by the Hawks.  The Hawks then hosted another YSBA rival in Markham two nights later.  After spotting Markham a 4-0 lead, the Hawks stormed back to win 11-6.

 

On the weekend of May 30-June 1, the Hawks returned to Mississauga for their second tournament of the season, this one hosted by the Tigers.  The Hawks opened divisional play with a tough 7-2 loss to North York which featured a successful 2^nd inning challenge by Manager Doug Lunney to measure the pitching mound distance.  Upon measurement, it was determined that the pitcher’s mound was incorrectly set at the Mosquito distance, so the rubber was then moved back six feet to the correct Peewee distance.  (Interestingly, a whole tournament game was played prior to the Hawks game at the incorrect Mosquito distance.)

 

The Hawks then reeled off four straight victories, starting with mercy wins against Mississauga and Leaside, and then a convincing win over 2013 OBA AA Mosquito champions Clarington, and finally a close 5-2 win against a strong annual AAA contender in Whitby.  In the games against Clarington and Whitby, the Hawks showed that good pitching and defense are keys to victory as they gave up a total of three runs over those two games.  But in the championship final, the Hawks ran into a red hot Scarborough team who were up 6-1 early and never looked back en route to a 13-3 win.

 

The May 30-June 1 tournament was highlighted by an over-the-fence 225+ foot grand slam home run by Brycen P. vs. Mississauga.  Brycen was also intentionally walked with none out and runners on 2B and 3B vs. Clarington.

 

The Good Vibes on Main Minor Peewee Hawks are back in action this weekend as they compete for the championship title in London, Ontario.