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18 stouffville suntribunem thursday aug 16 2007 stouffville suntribune pi lli if 1 v host squirts fall in ontario final it would be easy for the stouffville storm squirts to feel disappointed after fall ing 74 to elmira in sundays final of the ontario amateur softball association a double championship at memorial park sure anytime you lose ifs disappointing head coach scott eyre said but we put ourselves in a position to win that game we played an elmira team who we feel were as good as if we had played that game two hours before or two hours later we might have won its hard to be too upset since we lost to a pretty good team the boys did everything they could being secondbest in the province doesnt have a horrible ring to it indeed the storm did have a chance to lay claim to the coveted title trailing 72 in their last at bat and with one out the storm made it inter esting when matt morrow got on base with a hit and nick robb smashed a two- run homer to cut the deficit to 74 chris jupp followed with a triple but was stranded at third base when the game concluded we definitely had a sign of life at the end eyre said the storm won its first two games rather handily over enterprise 142 and napanee 102 facing elmira in its final roundrobin game the storm fell 64 to suffer its first loss in the double elimination tour nament the storm howev er showed its mettle by rebounding to down kitch ener 1310 to gain a berth in the final meeting elmira for a sec ond time in the tournament the storm forced a deciding game with an 119 victory for the storm it marked the first time this season in three attempts they defeated elmira after losing to them twice during the qualifiers earlier in the year eyre felt that victory gave them a huge boost in morale entering the deciding game i thought our boys responded well to it i think they kept looking across the diamond that as a team they were as good as them we knew we could beat them and did it in the first game of the final and we made them sweat in that second game eyre said i was talking with their coach and he said he didnt take anything for grant ed when they played us while pleased with the overall effort his club put fourth eyre was quick to praise the work of several players including the defence provided by middle infield- ers spencer roberts and matt punlop outfielders luke simcoe jon colley ben oneill and thomas reesor the pitching performances staff photosjoerd witteveen stouffvilles troy connor makes a late tag on stone mills tyson kimmel during opening game of ontario softball association squirt tournament in memorial park saturday of morrow and troy con nor and clutch hitting from hunter davidson we were confident the team we had would be a team to beat and the kids got bet ter during the year i couldnt have been any more proud of them eyre said the storm will move into the peewee ranks next year and think big we will be trying to build a team that can do some damage at the national level thats exciting for us to think we can break out of the pro vincial level were looking forward to it he said mike hay akawa del zotto with national under1 8 hockey team michael del zotto is on the canadian mens under- 18 team playing in the 2007 memorial of ivan hlinka hockey tournament in the czech republic and slovakia this week canada which lost in a- shootout to sweden tuesday and played switzer land wednesday plays the czechs this afternoon medal games will be played saturday sports briefs del zotto is eligible for next junes nhl draft in ottawathe 17yearold whitchurchstouffville resident made his ontario hockey league debut last season with the oshawa generals the secondoverall selection by the generals in the 2006 ohl draft the fivefoot 11 inch 200pound del zotto compiled 10 goals and 47 assists in 64 regular season games last season for more go to hockeycanadaca rovinc by mike hayakawa staff writer during the last three years stouffville storm head coach mike heffernan thought his team had the proverbial mon key on its backs after coming up short in their quest for the ontario amateur softball association a title last weekend in waterloo the storm bantam boys bid fare well to that moniker after defeating the host haumah twins 63 in the deciding game of the double elimination competi tion the last time we won the provincials was four years ago as secondyear squirts recalled heffernan in the last three years weve won the eliminations but always came up short in the provincials weve been in the hunt for it this year we did it winning that title didnt come easy for the storm though forced into a deciding game after losing their first game of the tournament to the hafiman twins 31 early sunday after noon the storm found themselves training 21 through 5 12 innings in the second contest after heffernan gave his club some words of wisdom prior to their turn at the plate the storm got down to business when caleb bayliss singled and scored on a towering tworun homer by second baseman steven ashbridge who had two other hits in the game to take a 32 advantage ive always said to the guys that if we want to be successful this is the year we want to pull this to win the provincials off we wanted to go into the eastern canadian championships as provincial champions it would be a great accomplishment at this age level to pull this off heffernan said of his pep talk we just tried to get our energy level up more before the inning concluded the storm added another run to pad their margin which they would not relinquish storm pitcher bruce cringan made his third start of the tournament and was the winner travis connor normally a catcher but nursing an injury came in to earn the save while elated to lay claim to the title heffernan was quick to praise the effort the hallman twins gave his club we were very fortunate this was a game either team could have won waterloo is a good team i looked at them as one of the most improved teams during the year theyve got good pitching and catching and their defence has improved since we last saw them heffernan said with our guys being at this high calibre level they didnt get worried when they were behind they came at will they capitalized on other teams mistakes he said but we also got good pitching from bruce cringan and caleb bayliss defensively we were solid and we had lots of timely hits the storm was buoyed by a solo round tripper from robert kay and a tworun blast from ashbridge to rout newmarket 92 in its opener saturday later that day they edged the hall- man twins 43 and walkerton capitals 32 to reach the final storm third baseman brahm vanzeeland delivered a timely hit in the win over the capitals while the storm had qualified for the upcoming eastern canadian championships earlier in the year by winning the provincial qualifier their achievement in winning the oasa title reinforced their seeding as the top ontario entry of two they will receive in the aug 2326 event to be played at torbay nfid i i a 1 h a 1 i york region media group celebration of the ri snowdates for semifinals friday and saturday august 10 11 17 18 and saturday august 25 2007 finals friday and saturday september 7 8 2007 book online at wwwnewmarkettheatreca newmarket theatre box office hours monday to friday 1 530pm and saturday noon4pm 24hour ticket order hotline 9059535122 thank you to our sponsors newm ark el thea tre s yrmg jmrori d r- a ttxxixxxxxxixixxl playhouse thcatrc markham jjj theatre kv3 newmarket theatre 505 pickering crescent newmarket all showtimes are at 730pm tickets are 15 per person 1