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stouffville suntribune thursday july 7 2005 27 stouffville suntribune peewee boys storm off with stouffville earns berth in eastern canadian softball championships by mike hayakawa staff writer mike heffernan knew some thing opposing teams who took to the memorial park ball dia mond during last weekends ontario amateur softball association peewee boys elimi- nation tournament didnt with the top two teams from this event gaining entry to the upcoming eastern canadian championships in placentia nfld the stouffville storm head coach had taken the liberty of making hotel reservations for his club in placentia two months ago heffernans decision turned out to be fortuitous as the storm will be occupying those rooms after capturing the tournament with a thrilling 54 win over the napanee express in sundays deciding game of the double elimination event i knew we were one of the top teams in the province and i had such a good feeling that we would win the tournament so i booked the hotel rooms on may 1 he said theres only one hotel in placentia and we booked the whole hotel we have 50 people going and the hotel only holds 50 the closest hotel where a team has to stay is about 50 miles away we did our homework and we came prepared as the final tally indicated the contest was close throughout the storm was forced to come from behind and did so in the sixth inning after loading the bases and scoring the eventual gamewinning run after a napanee relief pitcher walked in a run napanee had a great opportu- 3 nity to regain the lead in the sev enth inning when they loaded the bases but with two out storm relief pitcher bruce cringan sealed the win after striking out napanees top hitter on three straight pitch es napanee also advances staff photobill roberts stoufrville storm pitcher bruce cringan prepares to deliver a pitch to a walkerton capitals batter during last weekends ontario amateur softball association peewee boys elimination tournament at memorial park the storm won this game 83 and the title with a dramatic 54 win over the napanee express in last sundays final the storm and napanee will represent ontario at the eastern canadian championships in placentia nfld aug 2528 despite the loss napanee will also go to the eastern canadian championships as the second- seeded entry from ontario the storms road to the final began on a positive note last friday when they were buoyed by a 20strikeout effort from cringan and a tworun hit by tyler heffernan to defeat the waterloo twins 42 returning to the field later that day to face the oshawa stingers the storm had an easier time of members of the stoufrville storm peewee boys softball team proudly display the championship plaque they won after defeating napanee 54 in the deciding game of sundays oasa double elimination tournament at memorial park things as they cruised to an 180 mercyshortened victory erick espiritusanto set the tone for the storm by smashing a firstinning home run also making key contributions were robert kay brandon hampson and nolan benoit who each belted round trippers storm second baseman mike finn col- jectedfiverbis the storm then met some resistance from the walkerton capitals saturday as the two clubs were embroiled in a 33 tie through 5 12 innings but the storm broke the game open in their half of the sixth inning with five runs en route to an 83 win the storm received a great defensive effort from catcher brian hector to help preserve the victory with one of two berths at stake to make the trip to newfoundland the storm were assured of a berth later that day after edging napanee 76 to go undefeated in the round robin segment storm pitcher travis connor struck out nine batters to earn the win key hits were delivered by doug jones who drove in four runs and heffernan with two rbis outfielder brandon mckenzie exhibited grit after breaking his hand during the game he remained on the field until the coaches were able to replace him already assured of a berth in the eastern canadiansthe storm met napanee again in the finals sunday and went down to defeat for the first time in the tourna ment 133 that set the stage for the tiebreaker later that day team has character in explaining the clubs suc cess heffernan felt their charac ter played an essential role were not as athletic as other teams but our guys have plenty of heart and they play as a team when one player falls down the others turn around and pick him up thats been our success they support each other he said he also credited the clubs commitment that began last november with indoor practices twice a week before going out doors in april once outside the storm played in two leagues including one in their own age group and one above in the bantam division as well theyve taken part in sev eral weekend tournaments the boys have worked really hard this is our second year together and to reach the eastern canadian championships was an establishabled goal other team members are chris paine and braham vanzeeland assisting heffernan were rob santo mickey finn peter vanzeeland and scott connor joanne cringan is the manager the eastern canadian cham pionships will run from aug 25 to 28 whitaurchstoutrviue softball association earns praise from oasa by jim thomas correspondent whitchurchstouffvilles soft- ball program was roundly praised during opening ceremonies at a 11team peewee tournament that commenced last friday at memorial park david clue president of the imjtfh ontario amateur softball association said the towns repu tation for being a notch higher in terms of sportsmanship is recog nized across the province now i know the reason why he added clue praised the dedication and efficiency of league president june doner and her wiliing group of volunteers for which stouffville is famous amateur softball is only as strong as the amateurs who make it work he said noting that in recent years these numbers have declined give a little of your time ummmms clue urged you dont need to donate your life doner said whitchurch stouffville deemed it an honour and a privilege to host the tourna ment which sent the hometown storm and napanee to the eastern canadian fastball cham pionships in placentia nfld from ujua t k r ztlzkz0-yirll-vzibtt4- aug 2528 whitchurchstouffville mayor sue sherban also addressed the players and onlookers the first pitch of the tourna ment was delivered by longtime whitchurchstouffville fastball promoter mary myers of vandorf