For the second straight year    but with a different team     Ian Knott pitches himself a second straight Sagamok Fastball Tournament (3rd annual) championship . Only five teams participated in this year's event but with the presence of two excellent pitchers in the name of legend and hall of famer Darren 'the z man " Zack and ISC pitcher Ian Knott , class was brought to the tournament .

                                                                 Here are the results first of all of the 10 round robin games played : in game one the North Shore Rebels behind  Eric Abitong's 4 hitter and 5 strike outs dump the Sagamok Chiefs 14 to 3  ;in game two the Rez Ryders defeat the Chiefs 8 to 1 on Casey Abtitong's 3 hitter (he fanned 3 batters) ; in game three  the North Shore Rebels edge the Wyevale Tribe 3 to 1 behind the 3 hit pitching of Darren Zack who also strikes out 14 batters ; in game four the Rez Ryders win a thrilling 4-2  win over the Curve Lake where Caleb Keeshig pitches a 7 hitter while striking out 4 batters ; in game five  , the Wyevale Tribe behind Cory Stolar's  two hitter (4 strike outs) defeat the Chiefs 5 to 1 ;in game 6 , Curve Lake dump the North Shore Rebels 7 to 2 behind Ian Knott's 2 hitter (he fans 9 batters) ; in game 7  Wyevale Tribe edges the Rez Ryders 8 to 6 behind Mike Kelly's 7 hitter (3 strike outs) ; in game 8 Curve Lake blanks the Chiefs 9-0 behind the excellent pitching of 17 year old Riley Capalbo who only gives up a single hit and fans 11 batters ; in game 9 Curve Lake defeats Wyevale Tribe 4-2 on Ian Knott's 6 hitter   while he strikes out 13 batters  and finally in the last round robin match , the Rez Ryders defeat the North Shore Rebels 4-3 behind the excellent pitching of Caleb Keeshig  who gives up but 4 hits and strikes out 16 batters . Following are the final round robin standings prior to the playoff round :

 

 

1st   Sagamok Rez Ryders  *                                   3 wins   1 loss      22 runs for     14 runs against        +/-  +8        6 points

 

2nd  Curve Lake                                                     3 wins   1 loss      22 runs for       8 runs against        +/-  +14      6 points

 

3rd    North Shore Rebels   *                                    2 wins    2 losses  22 runs for     15 runs against        +/-  +7       4 points

 

4th    Wyevale Tribe                                               2 wins    2 losses   16 runs for    14 runs against         +/-  +2      4 points

 

5th    Sagamok Chiefs                                             0 wins     4 losses    5 runs for    36 runs against          +/- -31     0 points

 

                       * determined by head to head

 

The semi finals :

 

    Semi final  "B"        Curve Lake   VS    North Shore Rebels

 

 

                                                            This was without a doubt the best game of the tournament with the top two pitchers facing each other in the persons of Darren Zack of the Rebels and Ian Knott of Curve Lake . In the opening frame , the Rebels score the only run on a base hit and Curve Lake fielding error .There is no scoring for the next two frames . In the fourth inning , Curve Lake scores their run on two base hits (single ,double ) and a wild pitch .We now have a tie game at 1-1 .Once gain for the next three frames there is no scoring and both starting pitchers have combined to give up but 9 hits while fanning 19 batters . We are now going to extra innings with the international tie breaker where the inning starts with a runner on second base . The North Shore boys score a single run on a base hit (double) and now takes this 2-1 lead to the bottom of the 8th . Curve Lake comes up to bat  where the lead off strikes out , the second batter reaches first on a fielding error putting runners on the corners . At this point the next batter hits a squeeze bunt to score the runner from third (the game is tied at 2-2) with still only one out , the ball still is alive-the catcher throws the ball to second moving the runner to third who then continues his running journey scoring the winning run with a fabulous slide at home . Curve Lake moves on to the championship final with a thrilling come from behind victory of 3-2 in one extra inning .

 

      Semi final  "A"        Wyevale Tribe   VS   Rez Ryders

 

                                                            In this second semi final , the Ryders scored two runs in the opening frame and never looked back on their way to thumping of the Wyevale Tribe 9 to 1 . Their biggest outburst was in the 4th inning when they busted out to score 4 more runs and at that point lead 7 to 1 . The Ryders pounded out starting pitcher Cory Stolar of the Tribe for 16 hits .  Calen Keeshig went all the way for the Ryders giving up but one single run (earned) on 6 base hits while striking out 2 batters and issuing 2 base on balls .

 

      C hampionship final                                 Curve Lake   VS M Rez Ryders

 

                                                                Ian Knott was in a zone to start off this final game as he only gave up 2 runs in his four innings of work on 3 hits while striking out 4 batters and not issuing a single base on balls . His only major blemish was giving up a solo shot off the bat of Lyle Baiboncowai , catcher for Ryders in the second frame . Not surprisingly , Knott gave way to his young seventeen yearl old protégé  Ryley Capalbo in the fifth.Capalbo faced 9 batters and not one of them reached base while he struck out four of them and the remaining five outs were all infield outs . The final score was 7 to 2 for Curve Lake . Twenty year old Casey Abitong went the distance for the Rez Ryders and he gave up all seven runs ( three unearned) on 8 hits while fanning 4 batters and issuing but one single base on balls . Had it not been 4 costly errors by his teammates , the score might have been much closer .Members of the winning team were :  Aaron Trude , Jarrett Taylor , Jordan McCue , Justin Taylor , Ryan McCue , Eric Knott , Brydon McCue , Ian Knott , Ryley Capalbo ,Will Jones  and Dick Rose

 

(attached photos of winning team-Curve Lake as well as the runners up -Rez Ryders and a few other photos of memory from this third annual Sagamok tournament)

 

NOTICE

 

             Teams from across the province are reminded that the 5th Annual Northern Ontario "Brad Rienguette" Ladies and Men's Fastball Championship  is fast approaching that being in 24 days . The deadline for the $100 non refundable amount to guarantee you a spot is on August the 5th with the August 15th deadline for entry (see attached flyer for all the particulars)It is fast filing up . On a second note , we are looking for all the local  as well as the North Bay area and North Shore former officials , umpires and players of fastball(these are legends in the real sense of the word) to show up for the opening ceremonies on the Friday night August the 20th before 6:30 PM as we will recognize them and honor them .I would like these former legends to email me their name with a short history to my email at er_legendre@sympatico.ca and tell  if they will be attending -it would be greatly appreciated .

 

     Yours in fastball ,

 

       Roger Legendre    Rick McDonald Memorial Fastball league head statistician and public relations liaison/advisor as well as co-convener for the Northern Ontario fastball Championship (5th Annual)

                                     Check our web site new additions put on lately in the fastball results section ,profile ,news from around the North and in the photo gallery 2010 edition

 

Photo 1  Champions Curve Lake   2  Runners up  Rez Ryders  3 Native Comminity of Sagamok enjoying the nice weather and the games  4 Action on the diamond  5 Strategy on the Curve Lake Bench 6 Ian Knott tournament's top pitcher.