The MSLL Junior All Stars won the D5 Provincial Championship and are off to Lethbridge, AB to play in the Canadian National Championships.
The provincial tournament was hosted by D5 this year at Inter River Park and included 6 teams: MSLL, Lynn Valley, Forest Hills, New West, D3 (Whalley/Langley/Coquitlam combined) and West Van (West Van/Highlands/NVC combined).
MSLL had a good draw and were one of 2 teams with a bye into the second round. The team’s first game was against New West who had defeated Lynn Valley the previous day. MSLL got off to a quick start and cruised to an easy 15-0 mercy win. The next opponent was West Van who had advanced with wins over D3 and Forest Hills. West Van scored 5 quick runs in the top of the first against a nervous MSLL team. Although they fought back a little, this was a tough game and MSLL eventually were mercied 15-4 in the 5th inning.
The Juniors tournament is double-knockout, so from this point on every game was either win or go home. They were right back at the field the next day to play Forest Hills who had advanced through the losers bracket. This time it was MSLL who got the quick start and a combination of great hitting, solid pitching and some sound defense resulted in a blowout 24-0 win for MSLL.
This meant the team were back in the final but now needed to beat the West Van team twice in order to win the Championship. This time it was West Van that were the more nervous team and MSLL were able to get the lead early. The team was now playing with great confidence and easily defeated West Van 23-2. This set up a winner takes all game on Saturday. MSLL had a good start and were leading throughout – however in the bottom of the 6th West Van closed to within 2 runs and the game got quite tense. Seymour’s bats immediately came back in the top of the 7th leaving the team ahead by 6 going in to the bottom of the 7th. The first two batters stuck out before the third batter was able to grind out a walk. On the next pitch he tried to steal second and was gunned out by an awesome throw to end the game.
MSLL are now Junior League BC champions and are headed to the Lethbridge as Team BC. The Nationals tournament takes place from Aug 2nd to Aug 12th. More information about the tournament can be seen here: http://jrllcanadians.pointstreaksites.com/view/jrllcanadians
Congratulations to all the players and coaches on the MSLL team. Good luck at Nationals!
(Back Row: Todd D, Cole T, Sawyer M, Matt M, Justin F, Michael A, Nick D, Marlon J, Daryl T, Ronnie J)
(Front Row: Samuel R, Ryan M, Ryan L, Isaac E, Andy J, Mitchell T)