Sox Crowned OBA Champs

It was a slow start to the season for the Soo Black Sox Midget team this season, but when all was said and done, the Sox showed that they had what it takes to be a champion.

The Sox, who were hosting the Ontario Baseball Association Midget ‘A’ Championships this weekend, picked up some solid pitching as well as plenty of offense as they won the OBA title on Sunday afternoon at Sinclair fields.

After opening the tournament on Friday with a convincing 15-2 win over Ajax, the Sox continued to flex their offensive muscles on Saturday as they beat Whitby 11-4 before defeating Oakridge 11-0.

On Sunday the Sox, who were scheduled to play Kingston at 9:30 a.m. at Sinclair, saw their game location and time changed as they were moved to Queen Elizabeth for a 12 p.m. start time, due to the field conditions at Sinclair being poor due to the previous night’s rainfall. While Sinclair was prepared for the championship games, the Sox waited and watched Oakridge defeat Whitby 5-4 thanks to a walk-off three-run homerun from Oakridge’s Sasha Gerster. The win guaranteed Oakridge a spot in the final but they had to wait to find out their opponent.

With the Sox at 3-0 and Kingston coming into their matchup at 2-1, a Sox win would put them into the final against Oakridge, while a Kingston win would mean a three-way tie at 3-1 between Oakridge, the Sox and Kingston, which would mean that a draw would be held to determine who would receive a bye into the final while the other two teams faced off for the right to play for the title.

Sure enough, Kingston spoiled the Black Sox hopes of going through the tournament with a perfect record as they knocked off the Sox by a 7-1 score to set up the three-way tie. After the Sox opened the scoring in the top of the first inning on a Justin Soltys sacrifice fly that scored Rick Mills, Kingston took over scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning and never looking back. Jareth Vallier made the score 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning by hitting a solo blast while Brad Devine added a two-run blast an inning later. A wild pitch, also in the bottom of the fifth, scored the other Kingston run.

After the game, a draw was held to determine who would receive the bye into the final while the other two teams squared off for the other spot. The Black Sox managed to win the bye, while Kingston and Oakridge squared off in the semi-final game.

Kingston managed to get by Oakridge by a 4-3 score to get into the championship game against the Sox, to set up a rematch of the earlier game of the day.

The Sox, backed by Tyler Binkley, who pitched a solid tournament for the locals, managed to open up an early lead again over Kingston as a throwing error in the bottom of the second allowed the Sox to take a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, the Sox opened up their lead singles by Ryan Plante and Jeff Buchan along with a two-run double by Mills allowed the Sox to take a 5-0 lead. Kingston picked up two runs in the sixth inning to cut the lead to three, but they could not gather up any more offense against Binkley as the Sox shut Kingston down the rest of the way to hold on for the 5-2 win and pick up the OBA Midget ‘A’ Championship.

The title was the second consecutive for three Sox players who were a part of last summer’s Soo Select Bantam team who won the Bantam OBA title last summer. Binkley, Kyle Sayers and J.J. Bergamin were al members of that team.

The game was also a special one for two members of the Black Sox who move up next year to higher levels of baseball as Adam Carricato and Rick Mills both played their final games for the Black Sox. Carricato is also participating in a foreign exchange program which will see him leave for Germany on Monday morning.

Following the title win, Sox manager Mike Lebel said that winning the draw to earn the bye into the final was an exciting moment for the team, especially after the early game they had against Kingston. The bye allowed them to rest up and regroup for the championship.

“After we had that game (against Kingston), we were excited to win the lottery,” Lebel said. “It was special to win the lottery.”

Lebel credited Binkley in the title win as the young pitcher shut down an offense that had previously been soaring in the tournament, much like the Sault offense prior to Sunday morning’s game against Kingston. The entire Sox pitching staff was steady in the tournament overall aside from Sunday morning’s game against Kingston.

“I thought (Binkley) was the key,” Lebel said of his pitcher. “He basically shut them down and that was a good hitting team. We had a lot of quality starts (From all our pitchers).”

Lebel went on to say that he felt the earlier game against Kingston was a “wakeup call” as the Sox had rolled through their previous three games. The loss forced the Sox to regroup and they managed to pull together in the finals to win the title.

Lebel also added that the Sox, who began the year slowly, picked up their play around mid-season and they managed to peak at just the right time.

“As a coach, that’s what you’re trying to do, is peak at the right time,” Lebel said. “That’s the way you like to finish. We’ve had a couple of lean years recently, but we’re coming back well.”

The Sox, who only graduate two players in Carricato and Mills look to have a strong nucleus to build around next summer and could possibly improve on this year’s strong season.

With the Midget OBA tournament now in the books, two more tournaments are scheduled for Sault Ste. Marie and both will take place next weekend as the Mosquito and Bantam OBA tournaments will be held from September 3-5 at Sinclair fields. ______________________________________________

(Photo: The Sox celebrate their newly won OBA title on Sunday afternoon. Courtesy: John Naccarato)