The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

mhe Canadian Champion. Friday, Auguat 6,19 lf--21 SPORTS Photo by GRAHAM P Milton Mystîca' Jalme MacDonald aides safely lnt home plate afier the London East catcher dropped the bail lrig firat round play of the provincial qualllyng tournament at Lions Sport Park Saturday. See story below for detaîl /Midget hot streÀt;kak e nds abruptl13 Milton's midget girls fastball team went into last weekend's provincial qualifier on a rernarkable hot streak. However, their hopes of advancing to the main event hit the deep freeze awfully quickly. The Expedite Plus Mystica, who'd bast only once in 13 games leading up to the double knockout tournament at Lions Sport Park, dropped games one and two for an early exit. Manager Roy Harrold admits bis club wasn't one of the favourites to place top three and move onto the provincial tier two championahips, but thought that their recent run and subsequent momentum might have given themn a shot. "The way we'd been playing, I figured we had a chance," he remarked. Unfortunately, lady luck had other plans for the local team - who drew eventual gold medalist London Eaat for round one and were nipped 7-6 in extra innings. Milton stayed competitive throughout the lengthy morning conteat, which was delayed three times because of the rain, and held a 6-4 lead after four frames. But ail the weather related interruptions and overpowering opposition finally caught up with them. Suggested Harrold, 1I guess it's hard to tell for sure, but the delays seemed to take away our edge." London East tied the game in the seventh inning and posted the winning; rn in the eighth. 'Me Mystica nearly prolonged the festivities, but couldn't cash in their one base runner in the bottom half of the extra inning. Lindsey Harrold worked a complete, game and enjoyed four scoreleas innings - due in past to auperb defence, especially from catcher Kathleen Beniuk and short- stop Laura Smuck. Leading offensively was Jaime MacDonald, who amassed four singles and scored three times. Smuck and Sherylene Leslie also had multi-hit efforts. firat round bass, that put themn on thei of elimination, the toumnament hosts ered a lacklustre performance in their outing and were thumped by Maryhil 3. "Defensive errors really hurt us in two. We booted the baIl around a explained the local skipper. Melissa Morrison took the pitching in the second game and went the dis while Leslie offered the only offe highlight - clobbering a two-run d down the stretch, when the final out was ali but decided. Pandora Lewis tributed a pair of hita. London Est, London South Windsor eamed berths to the prov showcase. Meanwhile, Milton continues G Horseshoe league play, in which the rently ait third,. Their next home ga Monday, Aug. 9 at Lions Sport against fourth place Burlington. 1 'l 1 il: CANAIMAN Ci 1AN1110,111, 1 Ri [)Aý, fatigue trips bantams after a heroic tussie By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Cail it the crowning jewel to a sparkling seaaon. Milton's bantami lacrosse team staved off elimination three times en route to securing silver at last weekend's double knock- out Ontario "B" Championships in Guelph. The Mavericks were n o doubt pleased with their splendid over- ail performance - but a measure of disappointment must certain- Iy bave been mixed in with the team's post provincial emnotions. This after being trimmed by the Whitby Warriors 11 -9 Sunday evening in the finals. Milton's bantams - the most accomplished local lacrosse teamn in recent memory, with a recent zone championship win plus a title triumph at their own toumnament this past spning - domhinat- ed the gold medal match but hit five posta and couldn't find their usual scoring spark. Also, Robert Lee Beaulieu finally succumbed to fatigue and had trouble maintaining his topnotch netmninding. "Whitby used two goalies but we had only one, which hurt after such a long weekend," said head coach Randy Novak. "Bobby did a terrifie job getting us to the big game but waa just too tired by the end. Being able to give himi a break may have made the difference. We'd played three times that day - hie and everyone else were hurting." Remarked Novak, "Lt waa disappointing to corne that close, but overali the guys played outatanding. Ihis teami had high expecta- tions this year and basically met al of its goals." AINE Leading offensively during the championship clash with two dur- tallies each were Derek Blanchard, Lee Frittenburg and Kyle la. Goertz. Singles went to Matt Decaire, Lane Moodie and Michael 7'Novak - who along with Brett Lewis recorded a pair of assista. Milton's provincial highlight came just a few hours earlier in the semnifinals, when they gutted out an 8-6 victory againat the ;hing favoured Fort Erie Hawks. brink Providing the heroics waa Mark Galick - who sank both the leliv- gamne-winner and insurance marker late in the final framne. next Also standing out with two goals in this highly physical and 1l110- spirited showdown were Blanchard and Moodie. Novak played a strong set-up role with three helpers. game The Traders Custom Brokers sponsored squad managed to fend lot,", off elimination two other times following a 5-3 bass to Oakville in round tbree. reins They rebounded with convincing wins over Nepean (6-2) and ,tance Akwesasne (8- 1) to reach the final four. naive In the first of these wins - which waa dloser than the final tally ouble would otherwise indicate - Lewis and Noie Coutrouzas were corne particularly impressive on defence and at retrieving botse halls. con- Milton ran roughshod over their competition during day one of the provincials, blaating Est Gwillimbury 9-1 and Gloucester 13- and 4. incial Decaire and Moodie each tumed a hat-trick over this initial stretch. They were the only three-goal efforts of the weekend - olden which illustrated the club's scoring depth. y cur- Overaîl they outgunned their provincial competition 56-30. me is Making up the test of this year's silver medal teain are Brent Park Cavanagh, Rory Johnston, James Mclntosh, Jonathan Ram, lan Robertson, Adam Rutz and Daniel Wetselaar.