Off on the pitch, Port Hood’s Bentley Cameron takes off for second base with Inverness pitcher Alistair MacLeod in mid-throw during Friday’s opening game of the U15 A provincial tournament.
–by Bill Dunphy
The host Port Hood Blue Jays and two other local teams were all on track for a shot at Sunday’s Nova Scotia U15 A provincial title until Mother Nature derailed the final two games of the tournament.
The five-team tournament began under sunny skies Friday at the Leo A. MacDonell Memorial ball park in Judique and the fine weather continued into Saturday.
But with just two games left to play – the semifinal game, between the Blue Jays and the Strait Area Sting, and the championship game, between the Inverness Ravens and the semi winner – the games had to be postponed due to rain.
As well, tournament chairperson Melanie Beaton also had to deal with changing the schedule when the first three games on Friday went overly long, forcing the fourth game, between Inverness and the Pictou County Cubs, to be pushed to Saturday morning.
Under Baseball Nova Scotia rules, no provincial game on an unlighted field can start past 5:30 p.m.
Beaton contacted BNS, who gave her two options – if the two teams agree, start the game past 5:30 p.m. and if it’s not completed before dark, the game is complete at that point; or have it played as the first game on Saturday morning.
Inverness was for it, but Pictou wasn’t. And as it turned out, Friday’s third game lasted until 7 p.m. and would not have given the teams much time to play.
And by pushing the game to Saturday, it created a situation where a team might possibly end up playing three games that day and not having enough pitchers due to pitch-count limitations.
“It’s been a tournament,” said Beaton on Sunday. “The first day was a tough one, but yesterday went smoothly.”
While she was faced with some negative interactions in relaying the BNS decisions, Beaton said the good moments made it all worthwhile.
“U15 is a tough age, but my golly, I have seen some really lovely kids. The politeness and respect I’ve seen has been incredible.
“And I had a lot of respectful interactions. New Waterford and Pictou were eliminated, but New Waterford went home after the midnight game (played under the lights in Port Hawkesbury) and were back on the field Saturday morning. And there was a girl playing for Pictou who was sick, but hit a grand slam home run, the only player to do so,” she said.
“At the end of the day, even with all the snags, the camaraderie among the players, the kids having fun, and all the great people, it was great to see that gathering of people, of community.”
Back to baseball, if the Blue Jays can get past the Sting when the tournament resumes, then the final between Port Hood and Inverness will be a game for the ages considering how the two teams played in the opening game of the tournament.
Note: In all round-robin games, BNS rules capped the runs allowed per team per inning at three and the open-ended seventh inning was capped at 10 runs.
Inverness won the coin toss for home field and Port Hood struck first with two runs – Bentley Cameron leading off with a single, getting moved to third on a sacrifice by Colin MacDougall, and scoring on an RBI bunt single by Carter DeCoste, who scored on a fielder’s choice by Malcolm MacInnis.
Undaunted, the Ravens came back with a three-run bottom half. Colton MacIsaac led off with a walk, scored on an RBI double by Alistair MacLeod. Ryder MacLean singledto bring home MacLeod and Danny MacDonald brought MacLeod home on a base hit, and Jack MacNeil hit a two-run single to drive in the third run.
Inverness starting pitcher MacLeod kept his top of second inning scoreless.
However, the Ravens kept the pressure on Blue Jays starter Luke Calder, scoring two in the bottom half to take a 5-2 lead.
Drew MacDonnell led off with a base hit, followed by back-to-back RBI doubles by MacIsaac and Alex Dan MacDonnell.
Both MacLeod and Calder pitched a scoreless third inning.
The two clubs followed with a two-run fourth inning.
Ashton Hawley started Port Hood’s half with a one-out single and DeCoste cashed him in with another RBI bunt single. DeCoste came in on an error to make it a 5-4 game.
The Ravens got their two runs off a one-out double by A.D. MacDonnell, followed by an RBI triple by MacLeod. MacLean hit a fielder’s choice to second to score MacLeod.
With Colton MacIsaac coming in for relief following the Hawley single, he shut the Blue Jays down in the fifth.
Seizing the opportunity, the Ravens touched up Blue Jays relief pitcher Malcolm MacInnis for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 10-4.
With two outs and MacNeil (single) and Drew MacDonnell (walk) on third and second, MacIsaac delivered with a two-run double and A.D. MacDonnell drove him home with a base hit.
Port Hood battled back with a three-run inning of their own in the top of the sixth one again make it a three-run game. A lead-off double by Cameron and a walk by Hawley set the table for a two-run double by MacInnis and an RBI single by DeCoste to make it 10-7 Inverness.
Now it gets really interesting.
MacLeod led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and rounded for home on a throwing error to third.
MacInnis finished off the inning without allowing another run despite two on with two outs.
The open-ended seventh inning saw Port Hood score six runs – one off MacIsaac and five off reliever Eli LeBlanc to take a 13-11 lead.
Neil MacEachern walked with one out and Calder and Blake Warcop each singled to load the bases on MacIsaac, who next hit Evran Beaton with a pitch for the Blue Jays first run of the inning.
With LeBlanc on the bump, Brier Nadasdi hit a two-run single to make it 11-10.
LeBlanc struck out the next batter and then gave Cameron an intentional walk to load the bases again. However, Colin MacDougall drove a shot to deep centre to clear the bases with a three-run double to put Port Hood up 13-11 before LeBlanc got the final out.
Down but not out, the Ravens loaded the bases with one out on walks to Aydin Copley and MacIsaac and a base hit by A.D. MacDonnell.
Neil MacEachern came in to pitch for Port Hood, but couldn’t find the strike zone to give up RBI walks to MacLeod and MacLean to tie it. And with MacDonnell now on third, LeBlanc hit a grounder to first and the winning run crossed the plate for a 14-13 Inverness win.
By all accounts, a helluva game.
The three-hour game was followed by the Strait defeating the Pictou County Cubs 12-9.
Led by game MVP Zach Farrell with five shutout innings on the mound, the Strait scored two runs in the first three innings, added another in the fourth and two more in the fifth and sixth to lead 11-0 before Pictou got on the board with a three-run bottom of the sixth.
The Sting added another in the seventh and the Cubs made it interesting with a six-run bottom half.
Sean Hadley led the Strait with a triple and a single with two runs scored. Levi Boudreau also had a two-hit game and scored once. Vince Montilla and Ty Brown each scored twice on a hit and a walk.
Port Hood was up next against the New Waterford Dodgers, needing a win in game three and the Jays took charge right way with a three-run top of the first. They added three more in each of the fourth, fifth and six to lead 12-8 going into the open-ended seventh.
In the top half of that inning, MacDougall and Hawley led it off with back-to-back doubles. A walk by DeCoste and a single by Reid Anstey, who ended up stealing home, had the Blue Jays up 16-8.
Needing three runs to win (if Port Hood went up by 11 runs Pictou would not be able to tie it), Calder (single), Beaton (hit by pitch) and Gradin Spears (single) each crossed the plate – aided by a two-run double by Cameron – to win 19-8.
The first three games took nine hours to play, thus forcing game four (Inverness vs. Pictou) to be moved to Saturday morning.
Game five, between the Strait and New Waterford, was scheduled for 8 p.m. at the lighted Dan Willie MacDonald Memorial park in Port Hawkesbury. The game ended at 11:52 p.m. with the Dodgers escaping with a narrow 10-9 win.
Saturday morning’s game between Inverness and Pictou saw the Ravens score three runs in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings to win 14-8 and finish first overall in the round-robin.
LeBlanc led the attack with a double and three singles, crossing the plate three times.
MacLeod hit three doubles for two runs scored, with MacLean, MacDonald and Copley also scoring twice. Single runs were added by MacNeil, Drew MacDonnell, and Brett MacGillivray.
This set the stage for the playoff games, with fifth-place Pictou defeating fourth-place New Waterford 15-4 in game six.
Game seven, between the second-place Sting and first-place Inverness, saw Ravens continue to roll with a 15-5 win in five innings – automatically giving them a berth in the championship game.
Six players scored twice for Inverness, including: MacIsaac, A.D. MacDonnell, MacLeod, MacLean, MacDonald, and Drew MacDonnell. Single runs were scored by MacNeil, Copley, and MacGillivray.
The final game of the day was between the winner of game six (Pictou) and the third-place Blue Jays, with the loser going home and the winner hosting the loser of game seven (the Sting) in what would have been Sunday’s semifinal game.
Playing their third game of the day, the Cubs gave it their best shot but couldn’t matching the pitching or the bats of Port Hood.
Warcop pitched the win and got run support from Cameron, MacDougall, Hawley, and DeCoste with two runs each. Single runs were added by MacInnis, MacEachern, and Warcop.
As of Sunday, the tentative schedule for the final two games has Port Hood playing the Strait in the semifinal game on Monday, Aug. 31, at 5 p.m. in Judique.
The championship game, between the semifinal winner and Inverness, is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 5:30 p.m., also in Judique.
The rain wiped out numerous Sunday games across the province, including the U13 A tournament in New Waterford that included Inverness, Port Hood, and the Strait. According to BNS executive director Brandon Guenette, “We’re still working out a plan with the teams. Hopefully will know in the next day or so.”
Beaton thanked the tournament sponsors for their support, which included: East Coast Credit Union, On Par Indoor Golf, D.J. MacLean and Sons, Westside Commercial Cleaning, Port Hood Co-op, Whycocomagh Co-op, Mabou Freshmart, Atlantic Superstore, Sobeys, MacKeigan’s Pharmacy, Dollarama, and Giant Tiger.
She also tipped her hat to the many volunteers, including: the Municipality of the County of Inverness’ Get Active team and the Judique Volunteer Fire Department.
“Robbie Gillis for his support, hospitality and land line living close by as well as the Blue Jays manager PHD Kim Warcop, she did so much pre-organization, was married Friday evening at 6 p.m., and was at the field on Saturday for the day. “Isabel Calder, Jaymus Beaton, Lisa Cameron, Glenna Calder, Stephanie MacEachern, Kate Calder, Maria Hawley, Marissa and Craig Cameron, and all parents and volunteers helping with the canteen. Also Maudie’s Sweet Treats