Provincials in Niagara Falls 2012

The 2012 SPN Provincials (Masters 35+) were in Niagara Falls on Labour Day Weekend and POS qualified for the tournament by playing in the Scarborough and Oshawa tournaments.  Game 1 was a Friday afternoon game at 2:30 against the Mushballers on JAP#2 diamond.  With gale force winds blowing in from left centre field and the outfield “concrete” grass (or I guess it should be called “brown stuff”) it made for an interesting game.  POS started off slow and found themselves down 10-5 heading into the top of the 7^th when the bats came alive and racked up 6 runs to take the lead heading into the bottom of the 7^th.  However, the Mushballers had some quick hits and after tying it up they had the bases loaded with no outs and won the game 12-11 with a single to left.

Game 2 was an early morning 9am match at the new Headquarters in Chippawa on diamond PC#5.  POS faced the Generals who had also lost their Friday game.  The game was close early on until the Generals had a big 6 run inning which POS could not answer and ended up losing this one 13-8.

Game 3 was also at HQ on PC#3 at 1:30 against Byng Boyz who were also 0-2.  This was a must win game for both teams if they wanted to guarantee the chance to play in Sunday’s elimination games.  The tournament had 18 teams with the top 16 teams advancing to Sunday.  POS started this game off strong scoring the mercy 6 runs in the top of the 1^st and continuing to score runs and play solid defense to end up taking this one 17-0 after a 5-inning mercy.  Now, it was off to the arena to see who/when POS played on Sunday.  POS finished with a 1-2 (+1) record which was the best of the teams with the 1-2 record and placed them 11^th to face the 6^th place team on Sunday.

Game 4 was a bright and early 8:30am start back at JAP on diamond #1 this time.  POS was taking on the 6^th place Town & Country A’s who they had faced last year on this same diamond in the Saturday round robin game.  Although the winds were calm the game was delayed a bit at the start due to the fog but once it lifted POS was looking for a better outcome then what they had against the A’s last year.  The game was low scoring early on but the A’s had some key hits and after putting up a 6 run mercy POS found themselves down 14-5 heading into the 7^th and could not pull off a dramatic comeback this time.

POS had a great time over the weekend and will look to improve on their 10^th place Provincials finish in 2013.  Click to see the 2012 SPN Final Standings .  Next up for POS is the Oshawa SPN tourney in October which will count towards the qualifying for the 2013 Provincials.

POS Roster for the Tournament:

Wayne Cosby (Greenthumb/Woodland) – Coach/Sub

George Douma (A’s) – Coach (game 1)

Todd Boisvert (Greenthumb/Woodland)

Jeremy Gardiner (Greenthumb/Woodland)

Paul Power (Greenthumb/Woodland)

Al Stanfield (Storm)

Bob Peppler (Storm)

Joey Pilkey (Storm)

Ashley Teeter (Falcons)

Cas Litwin (Falcons)

Sean Dunn (Falcons)

Jeff Hutchinson (Bradley Motors Shifters)

Duncan McDonald (St. Louis Devils)