The Tsawwassen A's ended an unforgettable season by claiming a silver medal at the recent Provincial Midget AA Baseball Championships in Prince George.
The A's finished provincial qualifying with the best record in the 13-team Lower Mainland zone which earned them the number one seed in provincial pool play.
Tsawwassen opened with a 13-4 win over TriCities. Starting pitcher Ben Lawson was named game MVP and shared the mound duties with Connor Edinger and Nick Demak.
Game two was an all Delta battle as the A's exploded for 11 runs in the second inning en route to a 14-4 win over Ladner. Donny Mackintosh would start for the A's, followed by Demak, and Justin DeRoy who earned game MVP honours.
The bats continued to produce in a surprisingly easy 10-0 victory over a strong team from Kelowna. The A's jumped all over Kelowna's starting pitching to the tune of seven runs through two innings. Mackintosh led the hit parade with a gigantic home run. Demak was named game MVP and shared the pitching duties with Edinger.
After an overnight delay caused by a one hour rain storm that resulted in both baseball diamonds being flooded, the locals returned to the field for an early morning game against Duncan. A win would secure top spot in their pool and the A's would not disappoint as they came away with a 15-5 victory behind good pitching from Mackintosh, Stuart Thornley and Lawson. DeRoy hit a two run home run over the double decker left field fence to help jump start the A's offense. The game MVP went to Mackintosh.
The semi-final matchup would see Tsawwassen take on a veteran team from Ridge Meadows.
The A's nursed a 1-0 lead until the fourth inning when Ridge Meadows answered and took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning.
The A's were not ready for their season to be over and put together a productive inning, generating three runs to take a 4-3 lead into the seventh.
Demak got the start and worked into the seventh inning with a game MVP performance before reaching his pitch count limit. Lawson came in and shut down the last two batters to secure a spot in the gold medal game.
The championship game matched Tsawwassen up against hometown and pretournament favourite Prince George.
The stadium was packed with a very partisan crowd and local media. The A's struck first with a long home run over the high left field fence from DeRoy. The A's would stay competitive over the first few innings but some untimely errors would find them behind and in catch up mode. They tried to stage a comeback behind another huge home run from Mackintosh but it wasn't enough in a 7-3 loss.
It was still an outstanding and memorable run for the boys. The team also received strong defence and timely hits from Adam Bosch, Mark Dykstra, Kevin Marlowe and Jonny Murphy.
The coaching staff of head coach Dan Hodgens, and assistants Stu Bosch, and Dave Edinger thank the supportive parents and the boys for working hard all season.
