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

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 11, 2015 | 38 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports O L Y M P I C T R Y O U T S "Connected to your Community" Fall high school season expected to begin next week by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Queen Elizabeth Park swimmer Sophie Dowd competes in the Town of Oakville's 45th annual Novice Swim Meet last week at Brookdale Pool. Falgarwood was the champion of the seven-team competition, racking up 234 points to finish well ahead of second-place Glen Abbey. Queen Elizabeth was third (161), followed by Brookdale (154). The meet is a friendly `pool versus pool' contest that draws swimmers aged five to 14 representing their respective community pools. | photo by Graham Paine --Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Minor mosquito A's walk off with another OBA title The Oakville A's minor mosquito Tier 1 team picked the perfect time for its first walk-off victory of the season. Josh Beaupre singled home Ronak Dhindsa in extra innings to give the A's a 4-3 win over the rival Mississauga North Tigers in the Ontario Baseball Association championship game Monday in Windsor. "It was a very special victory for the boys that they will each take with them for a long, long time," said A's head coach David Gillespie, whose team carried a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning but saw Mississauga North tie the game in the top of the seventh (minor mosquito games typically go seven innings). Oakville eventually won the game in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases before Beaupre delivered the decisive hit. The OBA championship is the third in as many years for seven members of the team. Joe Moszcelt, Evan Tanaka, Brayden Gillespie, Eli Zweig, Ryan O'Born, Jordge Valdes and Beaupre also won provincial titles in junior rookieball and senior rookieball, while Harry Lamont and Dhindsa have been part of the last two championship teams. Evan Schweizer and Ben St. Denis -- who combined to pitch the final Monday -- were new to the team this year. David Gillespie said this year's OBA title win differed from the rookieball crowns in several ways. "This was the first year that the team needed to qualify in order to attend, it was the first year that pitching was involved (rookieball uses pitching machines) which added the complexity of pitch counts (daily limits on pitchers), and it was the first year a hotel was needed," said Gillespie, whose team stayed in Detroit and crossed the border daily because there was no hotel availability in Windsor. The A's success over the past three years is no coincidence. Gillespie says the team has played more than 200 games since 2012 (including 70 this season) and held at least that number of practices. The A's train twice a week throughout the winter as well, and began training their pitchers 18 months before their games featured live pitching. "It's a very committed group of players, coaches and parents; a first-class indoor facility (Baseball Oakville's `The Dugout', which opened last fall on Speers Road); and outstanding outdoor fields in Oakville," Gillespie said. "(And) without a doubt, winning, confidence, hustle and a positive attitude are all contagious." In addition to the OBA championship win, the A's also claimed tournament titles in Vaughan, Cambridge and Mississauga; reached tournament finals in Mississauga and Lasalle; opened the season with a 27-game winning streak; and claimed the Central Ontario Baseball Association championship. -- Jon Kuiperij A few months ago, the Halton high school sports convener wasn't very confident that he would have any sports to convene in September. "Not many people were," said Darrin Curtis. "I figured that when we left for the summer, the bargaining groups wouldn't get back together until the fall." But when the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation and the provincial government reached a temporary agreement last month, the possibility of work-to-rule sanctions or even a full strike seems to have been averted, and Curtis is busy finalizing schedules for boys' football, boys' volleyball, girls' field hockey and girls' basketball. Though the agreement has yet to be ratified by both the public and Catholic boards, Curtis is certain it will be. "I stay out of it because I'm not a teacher, but that's what I've been hearing," he said. "I'm pretty sure it's going to be passed." According to Curtis, many school teams had already begun practising last week. Schedules have yet to be announced, but senior boys' football is expected to begin Thursday (Sept. 17), with the other fall sports starting the following week. Curtis could not recall the last time, if ever, an entire Halton high school sports season had been wiped out by teacher strikes or sanctions. In 1998, labour unrest led to the cancellation of boys' football, though an agreement reached in late October allowed for abbreviated seasons in girls' basketball, boys' volleyball and girls' field hockey. "I think we'll all be happy when this is over with," Curtis said. Blue Devils look to tighten grip on first place in League1 standings The Oakville Blue Devils can take a big step towards clinching first place in the League1 Ontario men's soccer standings with a victory in their final home game of the regular season this weekend. Oakville will be home to third-place ANB Futbol Sunday at Sheridan College, a game slated to start at 4 p.m. The Blue Devils currently hold a 10-point lead over ANB Futbol with four games remaining for both teams, and second-place Vaughan Azzurri is seven points behind Oakville with three games left on its schedule. Wins are worth three points and draws are worth one. An Oakville win Sunday would guarantee the Blue Devils finish ahead of both ANB Futbol and Vaughan. The fourth-place Woodbridge Strikers are 12 points back but still would be mathematically alive for first place because they have six games remaining. The Blue Devils improved their record to 15 wins, one draw and two losses with a 3-1 victory over the winless Master's FA Saints Saturday in Scarborough. Oakville striker Filip Vilela scored twice, moving him into a tie for the league goal-scoring lead with 18.