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

stouffinlle suntribune thursday- aug 142003 19 stoufmlle siuittribune ball mites honour at weekend provincials by jim thomas correspondent when stoufmlle hosts the provin cial junior mite softball champi onship tournament this weekend at memorial park three generations of one -j- family -will- participate in saturdays opening ceremonies howard burkholder a former member of the world champion richmond hill dynes and currently coach of the stouffville menrios will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at noon other family members taking part are howards son chris a mirdbase man with themennos and a member of three ontario championship teams and chriss son josh a pitcher catch erfirst baseman with the host stouffville storm the tournament begins saturday at 10 am followed by afternoon games at 1230 230 and 430 competition resumes sunday at 9 arri witha second game at 11 the third and fourth place teams will play at 1 pm with the finals for gold and silver medals at 3 pm entries in addition to stouffville include stone mills near kingston orleans near ottawa and napanee the storm is coached by kelly matthews assisted by mark morrow and chris brown the stouffville lineup includes josh burkholder troy connor edward matthews matthew morrow wesley cowie michael demelo ryan peterson daniel merkgamer matthew rundlekerrick brown ben 7 cook arid kevin matthews the threegeneration burkholder fariiily participation is in itself an amazing softball story 7 howard- has been a player and coach of the stouffville merinos since the team was first organized 25 years ago the club is defending champion jof the qshawa city and district softball league burkholder performed with the josh burkholder stouffville mite member is third generation of his family to play fastball world champion richmond hill dynes in 1973 in 1983 he was select ed whltchurchstouffvilles sports personality of the year burkholder coached minor ball in stouffville from squirt through midget fpllowirig a oneyear sabbat ical he returned as coach jr a during this period his teams won three ontario titles although currently battling parkinsoris disease burkholder refuses to let this illness deter his enthusiasm for the sport he loves so much in addition to playing burkholder has had the satisfaction of seeirig all three sons participate in the game including chris 32 richard 30 arid ryan 27 ryan curreritly resides in waterloo but still plays in tourna ments stouffville has an unbelievable softball history said chris who describes fan support here as being the best iri the league chris says hes proud to take par ticipate in qperiing ceremonies with his son arid father my father has done so much for softball in stouffville its a privilege to beapart the stouffinlle storm squirt boys softball team became the first team representing stouffville to capture the ontario amateur softball association provincial a title by defeating walkerton 54 in extra innings for the champi onship in peterborough team members on the front row from left are robert kay erick espiritusanto tyler hefreman kohl mcvicar philip wood and aaron pettifer in the second row from left are brian hector derek eickmeier david wiseman nolan benoit in the third row from left are bruce cringan and travis connor members of the coaching staff in the back row from left are rob mcvicar scott connor mike heffeman joanne cringan ted wood and rob santo crown call it a perfect ending to a perfect weekend of play on the diamond for the stouffville storrh squirt boys softball tearri the storm became the first team from stouffville to capture the ontario amateur softball association squirt a champi onship after going undefeated at the championships in peterborough it won the final with a thrilling 54 extrainning win over walkertbrii with the score tied at 44 through seven regulation innings stouffville won the game in thesecond inning of an irifernatipnal tie breaker starting the inning running from second base derek eickriieier went to third on a sirigle by phil wood erick espiritusanto then drew a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by travis connor after robert kay drew a walk to load the bases nolan benoit singled home eickmeier for me winning run bruce cringan who was named most valuable player tossed a sixhitter for the win espiritusanto and cringan each had three hits to pace a 13- hit attack wood benoit and connor each had two and kay one the guys worked so hard they deserved to win said storm manager joanne cringan combine for nohitter in reaching the final stouffville received a combined ndhit pitching performarice from cringan arid eickmeier to rout brantford 80 tyler heffeman led the offense with three hits and three rjbis kohl mcvicar collected three hits and one rbi and benoit two hits arid orie rbi facing walkerton iri its sec ond game the storm rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to emerge with a dramatic 86 win eickmeier won the game in relief the storm then met napanee and prevailed 52 to gam a berth in the final cringan scattered eight hits to earn the win keying stouffville to victory were some strong deferisive plays catcher brian hector picked of a base runner- to squelch a thirdinriing nap anee uprising while outfielder david wiseman made a key catch in left field- to end the fouth inning kay executed a double play iri the third inning and fielded a hardhit ball by napanee in the bottom of the seventh to end napariees chances heffeman delivered a key hit in the first to score the first two ruris of the game jr pull cartsfrom 4999 5pcset graphite shafts from 7999 clearance centre 8312 mccowan rd wwwdimarcogplfcom 9054795077