NEWS RELEASE
BARRIE BAYCATS ROOKIE SELECT BASEBALL TEAM
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This past weekend the Barrie Baycats Rookie Select baseball team played in their first tournament of the year in Vaughan.
It was a 16-team tournament, with 3 round-robin games each on Saturday, followed by the top 8 teams playing off on Sunday.
For many players on this team, it was their first baseball tournament ever.
The Baycats came out swinging on Saturday, and ended up finishing first in their pool, winning all three games.
On Sunday, the Baycats beat Innisfil in the quarterfinals, and were in for a pressure cooker of a semifinal with the Brampton Royals.
The Baycats took an early 10-0 lead through the first inning-and a half only to see Brampton respond with 17 unanswered runs over the next four and half innings.
Heading into the top of the 7th inning, the Baycats needed to score the max (seven runs) in order to stay alive.
Lo and behold, the Baycats answered the bell, maxing out the inning, and tying the game 17-17.
Their next big task was to shutdown a powerful Brampton offence in the bottom half of the 7th inning.
The Baycats obliged, playing stingy defence, forcing the game into extra innings! In the top half of the 8th inning, the Baycats exploded for another 7 runs, pushing the lead to 24-17.
The Baycats were then able to limit the Royals offence to two runs in the bottom half to close out the match, 24-19, in one of the largest emotional roller-coasters coaches, players and parents have ever had to experience in their life!
The Baycats then took care of business handily in the final by closing out a North Toronto team 15-1 in 6 innings!
All told, the Baycats went undefeated, 6-0, to take home the championship at the Vaughan tournament.
Great job Baycats! Congrats to all the players on the team! We are all proud of you boys for displaying an overwhelming abundance of respect and valour, the mark of true champions: Malcolm Rose, Charlie Hill, Lachlan Armour, Daniel Poulsen, Luke Sampson, Mikka Charland, Dylan Mann, Brody Chant, Carter Mitchell, Everett Dubeau, Gabriel Decicco, Pearce Verhart, and Ben Lessard!
In the immortal words of Gord Downey, the Baycats came ‘armed with will and determination, and grace, too!’
