September2006
St. Louis Storm capture E. Canadian Intermediate C Championship
September 11, 2006
Summerside, PE
St. Louis Storm capture E. Canadian Intermediate 'C' ch'ship
Edge Brdgewater, N.S. Boston Pizza Thunder 4-3; perfect 6-0
BY PAT HEALEY
SUMMERSIDE - The St. Louis Storm have given West Prince and P.E.I. softball their second consecutive Intermediate Men's Eastern Canadian championship.
Mitch Hardy went the distance, giving up just four hits while fanning 11 batters and Troy Ellsworth proved to be MVP-worthy in a 4-3 win over the Bridgewater Boston Pizza Thunder in the championship final here Sunday afternoon at Queen Elizabeth Park's Very Important Volunteer Field in Summerside.
St. Louis finished a perfect 6-0 in the tournament, split between Duffy Field in Kinkora and Summerside. It was the Thunder's third game after they lost 2-1 to the Storm Sunday morning and followed that up with a thrilling 2-1win over Ontario to make the championship game.
Following the game, Hardy (top pitcher) and Ellsworth (Tournament MVP) were rewarded for their strong outings throughout the three-day event.
Ellsworth (1-3, run scored), Hardy (2-4, game winning RBI, double) and Jamie Betts (2-3, RBI) led the Storm bats.
Richie Crouse (1-3), Derek Nowe (1-3, two runs scored) and Kevin Nauss (1-3, double, two RBI) led the Thunder at the dish.
Al Simm went five innings allowing seven hits, four runs and striking out four to record the loss.
The Thunder came close to tying it as they had one runner on base in at least all but the fifth inning, when Hardy mowed down the side.
With two out in the bottom of the sixth, the Thunder put in pinch hitter Lance OPineau, the tournament's top batter with a .775 batting average, to try and cash in Shawn Crowe from third base. Instead he hit to second absemen Chris Avery who tossed it to first basemen Kyle Fraser to end the inning and the threat.
"It's great to win and see everybody come together and put in a total team effort like that," Storm fielder Jason Milligan said. "Hats off to Troy Ellsworth for the award, he deserves it,. He was a leader all weekend long."
"It was great to see everybody play regularly and no benched all tournament long and they all contributed to us winning."
Hardy was thrilled to have his second championship medal in as many years. Many of the Storm were on the championship-winning Alberton Athletics from 2005.
"We played them before so we knew we had to play our game," he said after the win. "I had to throw hard and let my defense do the work and not try to overpower anybody."
"It's nice to win it here, with over 100 fans from West Prince down to watch the game, especially in Summerside."
Betts was pleased to come out on the winning side.
"We were specifically all brought together as a unit for this weekend," he said. "It wasn't surprising that we were able to accomplish our goal of winning it all."
The Kinkora Hitmen were the hosts for the tournament.pathealey@eastlink.ca
