The Manotick Blitz were heading to the quarterfinals of the Blackburn Hamlet Men's Fastball tournament with two wins and one loss before the tournament was called off because of rain on Sunday afternoon. Manotick played their first game on Thursday night beating the Knights from Blackburn Hamlet 7-3. Shannon Borho got the complete game win with 13 strikeouts. Down 3-2 in the sixth inning, Manotick took advantage of a big inning, scoring four runs to go ahead 6-2. Manotick tacked on a seventh run in the top of the seventh inning. The Knights tried to rally back with two singles to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning before Shannon Borho got three consecutive strikeouts to end the game. After the game, Manotick manager Ivan Taylor said, “I have been encouraging the players to run aggressively on the base paths. It really paid off tonight when we scored the tying and go ahead runs by stealing home on a passed balls in the sixth inningâ€. In their second game on Saturday afternoon, Manotick lost 5-3 to the Blackburn Hamlet Guzzlers. The Guzzlers took advantage of the long ball to beat Manotick. With the score tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, Guzzlers' second baseman Joel Langford hit a three run home run to put them up 4-1. Manotick came right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to make the score 4-3. The Guzzlers got an insurance run in the sixth on another home run. Manotick failed to score in the sixth and seventh and the game ended with the score 5-3. Manotick manager Ivan Taylor said after the game, “We try to run the bases aggressively. In the first game of the tournament, it worked out for us. In this game, we had three runners thrown out on the bases. However, I feel that if you don't get thrown out occasionally, you're not running the bases hard enough.†On a rainy Sunday morning, the Manotick Blitz exploded offensively beating the Blackburn Hamlet Rogues 9-1. Manotick scored three runs in the first inning. Pitcher Shannon Borho hit a big three run homer as Manotick scored 6 runs in the second inning. The Rogues scored their only run of the game in the fourth inning. The game ended after five innings because of the mercy rule and Manotick was going on to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, there was a long rain delay. Eventually the tournament was called off because the diamond was in no shape to continue after four hours of hard rain. Manager Ivan Taylor said, “I am very disappointed that we couldn't continue the tournament. Although we would have had to play four games today to win it, we had a lot of depth in our pitching staff and we had extra catching from the players we picked up for the tournament.†Manotick's next game is a regular season game in the Greater Ottawa Fastball League. It will be played on Wednesday, June 19th at Centennial Park behind Manotick Arena at 9 pm versus the Stittsville 56ers. Admission is free.
