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BY MIKE HAYAKAWA Staff Writer Stoufiville Storm mite head coach Kelly Matthews insists on any given day, his youthful charges can compete with any club on any diamond. last weekend, the Storm played on equal footing with their rivals in the Stouffville Invitational Rep tournament. In the end, it resulted in a resounding 15-0 victory over the Cobourg Clippers in last Sunday’s title tilt at Memorial Winning pitcher Kevin Matthews tossed a perfect game and received timely ofiensive support that included two home runs and a single from Tyler Sirncoe. Also contributing to the 16-bit bar- rage were ]ake Stevens with three sin- gles, Jackson Savery a triple and single, Brody Krabi and Cole Gunathunge, two singles each, Ben Welsh, Dominik Hykel, Maverick Dent and Daniel Wynn with one hit apiece. WIN ONE OF THREE TITLES Simcoe earned most valuable play- er game honours while Matthews was named the toumament’s top pitcher. “We knew on any given day our team can compete against any team in our age group, so we were optimistic about seeing good results," Matthews said. Their success is due in large part to the experience his players possess. Mth the majority of his players returning to compete for a second season at the mite level, he said it sure doesn’t hurt. “We are lucky to have 10 kids back from last year’s team that placed fifth in Ontario. Especially in the younger age divisions, that one year of size, speed and strength is a huge factor. The boys really play well together; they know each one of them can make a difi‘erence and we can only succeed if they all bring their game to the park." In reaching the final, the Storm won their first two games handin over the Clippers 17-1 and Kitchener Kolts 24-3. Advancing to the semifinals where they faced the Bramalea Indians last Sunday, the Storm overcame a 5-2 deficit and prevailed 8-6. Against the Clippers, Matthews fanned 12 batters in the four-inning afl‘air. Welsh homered, doubled and sin- gles to ignite the Storm ofl’ence. r Savei'y added a triple and single while Mites storm to tourney sweep Ryan Dunlop had two singles. Matthews, Josh Eizenga, Stevens, Gunathunge. Dent and Hykel each had singles. Against Kitchener, Dent went the dis- tance striking out four to claim the vic- tory. The bats continued to ring with 21 hits, led by Matthews with four singles, Dunlop with a double and two singles, Saver with a triple and single, Stevens with a double and single, two singles for Krabi, Dent and Eizenga and a triple for Welsh. In their semifinal win, fly ball catches by Sean O'Neill and Krabi snufied out Bramalea rallies and a brilliant shoe- string catch byWelsh in the sixth inning ended Bramalea’s last real threat. Striking out 16 batters to earn the win, Matthews also made a contribuâ€" tion at the plate with three singles. Sav- ery collected a triple and single while Dunlop and Welsh each had two singles. Stevens, Gunathunge, Dent and Wynn had singles. “The boys showed a lot of grit in that game and really showed what they could accomplish," Matthews said of the semifinal. During a skills competition at the tournament, Savery won the home run derby. The Storm mites' next scheduled home game in the York Durham league is on June 11 at Memorial Park starting at 6:30 pm. Among other Storm teams in the tournament, the Storm squirts won their first game over Cobourg 5-4 before sufiering a 6-5 loss to Kitchener. The Storm then routed Georgian Bay 15â€"4 and advanced to the semifinals where they fell 10-? to Napanee. Playing a consolation final against Cobourg, the Storm fell 16-2. The Storm peewees were in tough against good competition from across the province and lost to Cobourg, Elmi- ra and Springbrook. Tournament organizers thanked Miller Paving Ltd., which supplied tar- paulins to cover the three ball diamonds in preparation for the tournament. “The community came together. If it wasn't for the tarps we wouldn’t have played for hours,” Ross Jones, Storm squirt spokesperson, said. TARPS SAVE DAY SPORTS Stouffville Sun-Tribune Stouflville’s Liam Mitro finishing third in midget boys’ 400m, in school-record time, at the Central Regional track and field meet at York University. He also qualified for the provincials in the discus. PHOTO/STEVE JIMMO Stoufl'ville Sunâ€"Tribyne I 771M lune 5I Four members of the Stoufl‘ville District Second- ary School Spartans track and field team punched their ticket to the Ontario Federa- tion of School Athletic Asso- ciations championships in Hamilton. They did it by earning top- four finishes during the Cen- tral Regional track and field meet at York University last Thursday and Friday. Competing in the senior girls’ field, Natalie Geiger won her specialty event, the 400 metres in a Central Region record time of 55.57 seconds. The Grade 12 student, who will be going to Notre Dame University later this year, also won the 200m in 28.84 and was second in the 100m. Dan Coskun finished secâ€" ond in the senior boys’ shot put and javelin. In the shot put, Coskun established a school mark with his toss of 14.55m. In the junior girls’ field, Kate Schlussler finished third in the 80m low hurdles. In the midget division, Liam Mitro was second in the boys’ discus and third in the 400m after he set a school mark with a time of 54.46. In the overall team stand- ings, the Spartans finished 15th out of 93 schools. The provincial champion- ships begin today and run through Saturday at Mohawk Park in Hamilton. For more information on the pro vincials, go to ofsaa.on.ca/track SDSS foursome at OFSAA finals See additional Stoufiville Secondary track and field photographs/page 23.