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30 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, September 1, 1992 « "Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice' The Port Perry Merchant Midgets are the 1992 All Ontario Champions for their division. The Ca team went undefeated in the tournament held in New Hamburg over the weekend. Pictured are the members of the winning team. Front row from left are: Chad Venning, Jason Cochrane, Dar- rell Vanderligt, Brad Moase, Steve Stiles, Darrell Vander Slagt, Steve Laird. Back row from left are: Bob Vander Slagt, coach, Denis Smith, Scott MacLennan, Wayne Venning, coach, Grant Kay, Jeff Card, Jason McBride, Todd Smart and Ron Redman, coach. Undefeated in New Hamburg The sponsors for this week's Merchant Midget sports report are Galley Fish and Seafood and Mike Tobin Photography. This past weekend, the Mid- gets were in New Hamburg for the All-Ontario games. When the OASA convenor in the open- ing ceremonies announced, "Let the games begin," we were sure he had said, "Let the rains be- gin." The tournament got off to a very wet start and began with a two-hour delay, but the sud- den appearance of the wind and gun allowed the fields to dry quickly and the games proceed- ed with no further delays. Even Sunday began with black clouds and heavy winds, but soon be- came a great day for ball, with an even greater ending as the Port Midgets became the 1992 All-Ontario Champions in their division, going undefeated for the tournament. The first game put Port up against Mitchell, a team replac- ing the Paris squad who were not able to participate. Darrell Vanderligt, on with a single, was able to seal a base and move all the way home on throwing errors. In the fourth, Vanderligt and Steve Laird both hit singles and were scored on a three-run home blast run by Jason Cochrane. Mitchell scored their only run in the sev- enth and Jeff Card got the 4-1 win, pitching a three-hit game, striking out seven and walking only one. The second game was against Tara (Owen Sound) and turned out to be a very close 5-4 win for Port. Vanderligt and Laird, on with a single and a walk, were scored on an RBI double by Co- chrane and an RBI single by Scott MacLennan. In the third, Port went up 4-1 when Laird and Cochrane reached base on a hit pitch and a single, and then scored after Darrell Vander Slagt grounded out and Tara proceeded to make throwing er- rors which allowed both run- ners to cross the plate. In the gixth, Tara scored two runs to come within distance of a tie, but in the bottom of the inning Card hit a no question home run to give the home side the extra run they would need to win. Tara came back to score their fourth run, and had men at first and second with two out when Denis Smith struck out the batter with a beautiful change up. Smith got the win by striking out five, walking one, allowing seven hits and only two earned runs. Game three on Sunday morn- ing matched up Port and St. Clements, the only undefeated teams in the tournament. St. Clements struck early and went ahead 2-0 when men at first and second were scored with a hard hit triple by the op- posing pitcher who Sbviously likes curve balls. Card quickly settled in and did not allow any more runners to cross the plate. Port was kept off the score- board until the fifth when Grant Kay and Jason McBride, on base with a double and an in- terference call on the catcher were scored by a two base RBI by Vanderligt and an infield hit by Cochrane which the second baseman mishandled. The game remained very Merchant Midgets win All Ontario tournament tight and tense, and fans coula be seen pacing up and down be- hind the stands as they peeked at the play once in awhile. In the sixth, St. Clements had two on and no one out, but Port was able to retire the next three bat- ters to keep the game tied. With opposing runners on first and second, and two out in the final inning, Card got the batter to ground out to second for the fi- nal out of the game. Card picked up the win by striking out 10, walking two, sllowing four hits and two earned runs. Although all Port's players were playing confidently and were making excellent defen- give plays, a spectacular catch in the fifth by Kay was definite- ly the defensive play of the game. In the fourth game, Port again met St. Clements who had just beat Mitchell 4-3 in nine innings to advance into the championship round. Port had to be defeated twice since they had not yet lost a game in the tournament. In the first inning, Cochrane, on with a single was scored on an RBI double by Vander Slagt. Port then broke it open in the third by scoring five runs and going ahead 6-3. Kay and Van- derligt were on with a walk and a single, and had been moved over with a bunt sacrifice by McBride. They were scored on a two RBI double by Laird. Then two back-to-back doubles by MacLennan and Vander Slagt scored Laird and MacLennan. In the fourth, Port scored the Turnto Page 34 Taylor Ford Mites two for four at On Aug. 29 and 30, Port Perry's fastball Mite All-stars attended the provincial champi- onship tournament held at Springbrook. Against stiff com- petition our squad finished the event with a two win, two loss record. In our first game against Meaford, we were led by Mark "Boomer" Richardson's 17 strike out "no-hitter" to a 6-1 win. Taylor-Ford scored all their runs in a big second in- ning with Braden Tarbotton slashing a key double to left field. Chris Monsma had a hit and two walks while Sean Jef- frey, Adam Moynes and Darren Miller also each earned two free passes. Our good momentum carried through the first inning of game two against Sydenham as Mark had two quick "Ks" and Darren snagged a tough line drive to right field. Despite three more strike outs in the second inning our opponent stole one run after a lead-off single and passed balls. Therefore, momentum left us and we finished with a 7- 2 loss. The tough Sydenham pitcher held us to hits by Mark (double) and Aaron Lycett. Tim Jones and Braden gave their best efforts in pitching relief. Mike LeFort and Sean each had two walks while Matt Skerratt and Adam also walked to first. Our third game of the day. fol- lowed immediately and this was against St. Mary's. Mark once again found his pitching groove and recorded 13 strike outs to lead us to a 9-6 win. Mark also smacked a triple and Aaron doubled. David ("Juice") Justynski, Chris, Braden, Matt and Mike all singled. This end- All-Ontario games ed the day happily and the team members were able to head off to their end-of-the-season team party in an upbeat frame of mind. Our final game of the tourney was an early morning affair and our team played below their po- tential to result in a shut out loss to a fired-up New Hamburg team. The New Hamburg pitch- er totally handcuffed our bat- ters by his "no hit" work. Adam worked his way aboard with three walks however and Matt, Mark and Aaron had single walks in their thunder- interrupted game. Our three pitchers combined for nine strike outs. Braden made two fine defensive plays with a div- ing catch of a foul ball pop-up near the screen as well as a throw from his knees for a force out at second base. All in all the coaching staff were pleased by our Mites' ef- forts in this championship as well as over this season which saw them play a total of 37 games. This team is a group of "over-achievers" and coaches Jack Monsma, Jacques Lacha- pelle and Gord Jones were pleased with their effort and sportsmanship throughout the season. They have certainly been a credit to Port Perry and to their generous sponsor Larry Taylor of Taylor-Ford Mercury who supplied awards to each member of the team, in addi- tion to the usual sponsor contri- bution. We wish all the boys well in their future fastball ca- reers. : A final word of appreciation goes to team manager Allynne Jones and this fine newspaper for its support this season. Squirts compete at All-Ontario championships Port Perry's 11-12 year old "Rep" team travelled to Joyce- ville on Aug. 29 and 30 to repre- gent our zone in the Provincial Championships. This was a highly competitive OASA divi- gion and our players gained some valuable experience to close out their busy fastball sea- son. . Our first game was against the Hanover team that proved to be the eventual tournament winner. Each player on their team was a second year squirt player and their experience showed as they shut out our team and their fine pitcher notched a "no-hitter." Only Jon Froats (two walks) and Brad Monsma (one/walk) were able to reach base. Despite the loss our pitchers Chris Jones and Jon only allowed four hits. Multiple errors proved to have a big impact on the game outcome for our lads. Meaford was our opponent next and our team picked up their level of play and won con- vincingly 16-2. Chris picked up the win and Jon relieved him as they combined for a one-hitter. After facing the Hanover pitch- er our batters were "ready" in this game. Chris had three sin- gles and a double while Ryan Moynes had two triples and a single. Jeff Ashton hit three for four and both Michael Versage and Jon tripled. Ryan McQuade had two hits and single safety's were notched by Brad and Dar- ryl Dalton. Reid McTaggart and Michael earned two walks each. Ryan Fraser had a stolen base in his turn on the base paths. Our final game of the tourna- ment was a "heartbreaker" 4-2 loss to the always tough Napan- ee team. Ofir team held a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning when the game was delayed by one and one-quarter hours due to a power outage that necessitated a 15 minute drive to another park to complete the game. Our intensity and concentration was left at the original diamond and Napanee scored three final inning runs by a combination of errors and timely hits. Chris was collared with the loss on 10 strike outs, five hits Turnto Page 34