june2006

Orillia River Sharks in Woodstock

June 7, 2006

Woodstock, ON

June 2 – 4
Woodstock, ON
 
After many years of involvement in this great game of fastball, as a tournament director, scorekeeper, volunteer and most of all a fan, I am really excited about my newrole with the Orillia River Sharks.  I have been looking forward to thisweekend in Woodstock since the middle of this pastwinter.
 
For the first time,the Orillia Quaker River Sharks took to the field as a team to see if theycould get and work together as a team.  The players did not disappoint, as they worked together, picked each other up and at the end of their first weekend ofplay, they were the last team standing.
 
Prior to getting into the game reports I must give a big thank you to Larry Lynch, Chuck Hendricks and their entire crew for all the hard work they put into organizing thetournament and making sure things ran smooth.  For anyone that wasn’t in Woodstock on theweekend, the amount of rain that came down on Saturday was enough to give nightmares to any tournament director.  Yet, Larry, Chuck and their crew handled everything efficiently and professionally and did everything they could to make sure teams got to play ball and there was a winner declared on Sunday. 
 
The work of the diamond crew was amazing.  I was back at the diamond Saturday evening and therehad to be 6 inches of standing water on the infields.  I have to admit thatafter having been in that position myself in the past, I was real confident that we would even be able to play ball on Sunday.  The diamond crew must have worked through the night because not only were the fields playable on Sunday morning, they were in great shape and they held up through all the games on Sunday.  Once again, thanks to Larry, Chuck and their entire crew for a greatweekend.
 
Game1       -           Friday – 9:00 PM
# 4 - OrilliaRiver Sharks (10)         vs.       #17 - Innerkip Bright Cheese Eagles (0)       5 innings
 
Innerkip          0-   6   - 1
Orillia           10– 14 – 1
Michael White got thestart in the River Sharks first game and he pitched very strong in his firststart of the season.  The Sharks bats came alive in the bottom of the 1st inning and before the inning was over they had scored 3 runs.  Ian Fehrman got things started with a leadoff single, Fehrmen moved to 2nd on a walk toAndy Jackson.  Fehrman scored on a single by Rob O’Brien.  Pat Mackintosh then hit a single that scored Jackson before Pat gotcalled out in a rundown before 1st and 2nd.  In thebottom of the 2nd inning the Sharks picked up right where they leftoff.  Steve Mullaley, Sean O’Brien, Fehrmen and Rob O’Brien all hadbase hits, while Pat Graham and Andy Jackson got on base with walks.  At theend of the 2nd inning the Sharks had added 3 more runs.  In the 3rdinning the Sharks added 3 more hits by Mullaley, Loney and Fehrman, and 2 moreruns.  In the bottom of the 4th had 3 more base hits by Rhys Casley,Mullaley and Loney, as well as a 2-run homerun by Mackintosh.  All in all, avery good start for the new Orillia Quaker RiverSharks.
WP: Michael White - 5IP –6H – 0R - 0BB – 8K
LP: Jamie Simpson –3IP – 10H – 8R – 3BB – 4K   -  Jeremy DeBelleville –1IP – 4H – 2R – 1BB – 2K
 
Game# 2    -           Sunday – 11:00 AM
# 4 – Orillia RiverSharks (6)          vs.       ISC II #3 – Elmira Cubs (5)     8 innings
 
Elmira          5 –7 – 1
Orillia           6– 9 – 1
The Elmira Cubsstarted this game very strong by 3 runs in the top half of the 1st inningon the strength of a 3-run homerun by Grovum.  The Sharks came to plate in the bottom of the 1st inning trailing by 3 runs and they managed to get1 back.  Fehrman and Graham both grounded out, Jackson got on baseby a throwing error, R. O’Brien hit a triple to score Jackson and Casleystruck out to end the inning. After a rough 1st inning, Michael White has settled in and is keeping the Elmira batters offbalance.  In the bottom of the 2nd Mackintosh got things started with a leadoff single, moved to 2nd on a fly ball be Mullaley andscored on Sean O’Brien’s double.  In the bottom of the 3rdthe Sharks get another run back on a leadoff walk to Graham, he advanced to 2ndon a sacrifice by Jackson and scored on a single by Casley.  The bottom of the 4th saw the Sharks take thelead for the first time in the game with a long leadoff homerun by SteveMullaley.  Both pitchers continued to keep the hitters off-balance until the top of the 6th when White gave up a homerun to Thompson (Elmira).  At theend of 7 innings the game is all tied up at 4 – 4 and we are heading to extra innings.  In the top of the 8th inning, with Rob O’Brienin to pitch for the Sharks, Elmira player, Guyscherhits a leadoff homerun to take the lead for Elmira.  Aftergiving up a triple, O’Brien successfully gets out of the inning withoutgiving up anymore runs.  The bottom of the 8th inning and thepressure is on the Sharks batters to come through.  Rob O’Brien leads offthe inning with a single, Steffen Walma goes in to run for O’Brien, Casleysingles, Mackintosh moves the runners over with a bunt down the 3rd baseline, Mullaley hits a sharp single to score both runners.  Sharks win and moveon to play Hefflin.
WP: Rob O’Brien– 1IP – 2H – 1R – 1BB – 2K  -  Michael White - 7IP –5H – 4R - 0BB – 5K
LP: D. Bradley –8IP – 9H – 6R – 2BB – 2K  
 
Game# 3    -           Sunday – 1:00 PM
# 4 – Orillia RiverSharks (4)          vs.       #12 – Hefflin Gremlins (1)       10 innings
 
Orillia           4– 11 – 0
Hefflin          1 –4 – 0
This game was apitchers duel from the very beginning and both teams starters pitched very well. Both pitchers bent but they wouldn’t break and they got the outs when they needed them.  Hefflin scored their only run of the game in the bottom ofthe 1st inning with Miller getting on-base with a leadoff walk,stole 2nd and then scored on Leonardo single.  Hefflin’sleadoff run looked like it might hold up throughout the game with the way the pitcherswere throwing the ball but on the Sharks bench they are already adopting a “neversay die” attitude.  Mullaley got things started in the top of the 7thinning with a leadoff single, he advanced to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by S. O’Brien, Loney hit a fly ball to left field for the 2nd outof the inning, Fehrman hit single to score Mullaley to tie the game.  Once again the Sharks are heading to extra innings to decide a game.  Through the 8thand 9th innings both pitchers continued their dominance.  In the topof the 10th inning the Sharks were finally able to break through atthe plate.  S. O’Brien is on 2nd base as a result of the International Tie-breaking rule, Walma goes in to pinch run, Walma moves to 2ndon a sacrifice by Loney, Fehrman gets to 1st after being hit by apitch, Graham hits a sac fly to move the runners, Jackson walks to load up thebases.  Rob O’Brien hits a single to score 2 runs; Bob Nydick goes in torun for R. O’Brien, Casley hits a single to score Jackson and theSharks are up by three.  The Sharks are able to hold off Hefflin in the bottomof the 10th inning and they will now move on to the Championship game against Patsy’s.
WP: Rob O’Brien– 1IP – 1H – 0R – 0BB – 1K  -  Frank Cox - 9IP –3H – 1R - 8BB – 12K
LP: B. Urqhart –9.2IP – 11H – 4R – 3BB – 1K  -  Paul Algar – 0.1IP– 1H – 0R – 0BB – 0K
 
  
Game# 4    -           Sunday – 4:00 PM –Championship
# 4 – Orillia RiverSharks (7)          vs.       #5 – Patsy’s of New York (0)  5innings
 
Patsy’s        0– 1 – 0
Orillia           7– 6 – 1
The game started offas a real pitchers duel between Muzelaar (Patsy’s) and R. O’Brien(Orillia) as all either team could muster was 1 base runner through the first 2 ½innings of play.  In the bottom of the 3rd inning the Sharks batscame alive as S. O’Brien got things started with a single, Walma went into pinch run for O’Brien: Loney followed that up with another single andthen Ian Fehrman hit a big 3-run homerun that actually landed in the pondbeyond the right field fence.  The Sharks added 2 more runs in the bottom ofthe 4th inning with R. O’Brien getting a leadoff walk, Bob Nydick went in to run for O’Brien and Rhys Casley hit a 2-run homerunover the centre field fence.  The Sharks kept things going in the bottom of the5th inning with Fehrman getting a leadoff walk and following Graham pop-up to the catcher Andy Jackson hit a 2-run homerun into the net in leftfield to end the game
 
All-in-all a goodstart for the Orillia Quaker River Sharks but it wouldn’t have happened without all the hard work that Larry, Chuck and their entire crew put into thetournament.  Once again, we want to thank all the volunteers that worked sohard to make the tournament work.
 
 
Next up for theRiver Sharks is a league weekend, June 9 - 11 in Orillia against theInnerkip Eagles and the Jarvis Merchants.  Games will start at 7:00 PM against Innerkip and the same two teams will play Saturday morning at 10:00 AM.  TheJarvis Merchants will then come in to play the Sharks at 7:00 PM Saturdayevening and again at 10:00 AM Sunday morning. All the games will be played at the Rama ball diamond, located across the roadfrom Casino Rama.
 
 
Paul Barnetson
OrilliaQuakerRiver Sharks
 
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