U13 Lasalle Titans Green Team - Welland Minor Baseball Mid-Summer Classic Finalists!
The
Lasalle Titans U13 Green team competed in the Welland Minor Baseball 13 U
Mid-Summer Classic Tournament over the July 14th to 16th weekend. This was a 12-team tournament broken
up into three pools of four teams and included many of the teams we are
expecting to see at our OBA championships this year. The Titans were looking forward to showing
what they had.
The tournament started out on Friday evening with pool play
against the hometown Welland Jackfish.
Welland got off to a quick start and took a 2-1 lead after an inning of
play. However it didn’t take long for
the Titans to kick it up a notch scoring 8 runs in the second inning off of
five hits. The Titans tacked on another
9 runs in the fourth inning with timely hitting and great baserunning. Great pitching by Cole Young, Jackson
Mastronardi and Nolan Lavigne along with fantastic team defense allowed only
one more run the remainder of the way for a 18-3 victory.
On Saturday morning the Titans were matched up against our
local rivals the Tecumseh Rangers in a battle of 1-0 teams. The Titans jumped out to an early 1 – 0 lead
after one inning and it looked like this was going to be a battle all
game. However, in the second inning the
Titans bats came alive and they plated 12 runs on 7 hits including a three run
home run by Brady Ippolitti that cleared the right field fence by a mile! Great team pitching by Beau McGrath, David
Naccarato and Ryan Etzel allowed only 5 runs and the Titans cruised to an 18 –
5 victory. On Saturday evening the
Titans were matched up against the Waterloo T2 team with their eyes set on
first place in the pool. The Titans
started off slow falling behind 6 to 1 after one inning. Most teams would have thrown the towel in,
but not this team, they are cut from a different cloth. They fought back and scored four runs in the
second inning to narrow the lead.
Waterloo again scored 3 runs in the bottom half making the lead 9 to 5. Through grit, determination, timely hitting,
and great base running the Titans scored 5 of their own to take a 10 – 9
lead. Nolan Lavigne would come in to
throw two scoreless innings and the Titans escaped with an 11- 9 victory and a
perfect pool play record for the fourth tournament in a row!
In the semifinals, the Titans were set to face the Woodstock
Wranglers whom they had previously faced at last years OBA championship. This would not be an easy game but the Titans
were ready. The game was back and forth
in the early going with Woodstock taking a 3 to 1 lead after three
innings. The bats couldn’t seem to get
going but great pitching over four innings from Jack Kroskie kept them in the
game and at the end of four the score was 3-2.
The pitching momentum continued as Beau McGrath took over pitching
duties and got through the fifth unscathed.
In the fifth inning the Titans turned in some great at bats, took
advantage of some small ball, and capped it off with a Brady Ippoliti double to
plate four runs and a 6-3 Titans lead.
The pitching and defense would do their job over the last two innings
allowing one run and a 6-4 Titans victory.
The Titans would move on to play a familiar foe, Grimsby, in the
final.
In the final the Titans were on the wrong side of a 7 to 0
score line at the end of one inning which included a grand slam by
Grimsby. Grady Richardson took over
pitching duties and did his best to keep the Titans in the game hoping the bats
would get going. The Titans would only
muster 2 hits in the game and despite their efforts were on the wrong side of a
13 to 0 defeat. The team, yet again, had
an amazing tournament and played fabulous in all facets of the game. Every team member contributed along the way
and your team camaraderie was remarkable even in the final game when things
were tough. The coaching staff and
parents are so proud of you guys. Go
Titans!
Coach Mike Naccarato