POS goes 6-0 to capture title in Oshawa

POS started the 2014 season by playing the first of two SPN qualifiers in Oshawa over the weekend in the Fall Daze 3 (May 10-11) Tourney.  Playing in the Men’s E/35E+ Division POS started the weekend with a Saturday morning game at 9:45am on diamond #7 against the Oshawa Vikings.  The weather was sunny but breezy with a stiff wind coming off the lake all day.  POS scored early and solid defense helped lead the way to a 13-5 win.  Game 2 had POS taking on the Bombers at 12:15pm on #8 and with the wind blowing into the infield the scoring was lower with POS coming out on top 10-8.  Game 3 was a battle for first place in the B division against the Cardinals on #6 at 4:00pm.  POS scored runs early to take the lead and then with the Cardinals pitcher not being able to find the mat for strikes the chirping started as POS started taking the walks.  POS confirmed with the umpire that there wasn’t a new rule which stated players must swings at balls and after warnings to both teams from the umpire, cooler heads prevailed and POS cruised to a 10-6 victory. 

Sunday’s quarter-final game had POS who finished 1^st in the B division taking on the Warhawks who finished 4^th in the A division.  The weather was still sunny and less breezy at the start of the game on #8 at 9:00am.  The defense once again was solid and POS ended up mercying the Warhawks 11-1 in 5 innings to advance onto the semi-final.  The semis were also on #8 at 11:30am against Beer Drum who had defeated the Cardinals in their quarter-final game.  POS started off slow stranding runners in scoring position in the first couple innings and trailing 5-0 after 3 until the bats came alive and tied the score up at 5’s in the 4th.  Teams traded a couple more runs in the next few innings which led to a 7-7 tie heading into POS’ bottom of the 7th and after getting the bases loaded with no one out Andrew singled to left centre to give POS their first lead of the game and the 8-7 win advancing them to the finals at 2:00pm on diamond #5.  The final was a re-match against the Bombers which was again a solid defensive effort for POS taking a 6-1 lead into the 6th and holding on for a 10-7 win and the championship!  It was a great weekend for POS going a perfect 6-0 and a great way to start off the 2014 season.  A summary of the games:

Saturday, 9:45am, Oshawa#7, POS-13 vs Oshawa Vikings-5

Saturday, 12:15pm, Oshawa#8, POS-10 vs Bombers-8

Saturday, 4:00pm, Oshawa#6, POS-10, vs Cardinals-6

Sunday, 9:00am, Oshawa#8, POS-11 vs Warhawks-1

Sunday, 11:30am, Oshawa#8, POS-8 vs Beer Drum-7

Sunday, 2:00pm, Oshawa#5, POS-10 vs Bombers-7

POS Roster for the Tournament:

Todd Boisvert (Greenthumb)

Paul Power (Greenthumb)

Andrew Carlton (Greenthumb)

Bob Peppler (Storm)

Joey Pilkey (Storm)

Ashley Teeter (Falcons)

Jeff Hutchinson (Bradley Motors Shifters)

Derek Ackford (Xtreme Contracting)

Mike Anderson (Xtreme Contracting)

Chris Mace (Xtreme Contracting)

Jamie Allan (Xtreme Contracting)

Adam Clay (Hanet Plastics)

POS at SPO & SPN Provincials

The SPO Provincials took place in London Aug.16-18 and POS entered the Masters 35E division with high hopes. Unfortunately things did not turn out as expected with POS ending the tourney going 0-3 with losses to The Mushballers 11-6 (Fri @ 4:45pm), the Mad Dogs 16-5 (Sat @ 10:15am), and Diamond Kings 17-6 (Sat @ 1:00pm) all on diamond #4 at the Southwest Complex. The group had a great time at the hotel with the pool so the weekend wasn’t all bad.


SPN Provincials were held in Niagara over the Labour Day long weekend (Aug.30-Sep.1) and POS was hoping for a better outcome in the Masters 35E division. Things did not start well for POS as they took on the Sultans Fri @ 2:30pm on PC#6 and were defeated 15-3 as well as losing Mark in the bottom of the first on a throw from RF to 3B which injured his arm and later was determined at the hospital as a tear in the elbow tendon. Game 2 had POS taking on Whisky John’s Bucs Sat @ 9:00am on PC#3 and the bats were alive in this one as POS evened their record at 1-1 with a 18-12 win. The final game of the round robin was at 12:00pm on PC#2 against the Knights and POS came back from an 11-5 deficit to take the win 16-13. After the round robin POS had a 2-1 (+2) record which had them tied for 2nd with the Town & Country A’s but the next tie-breaker (overall run differential) had the A’s at a -1 with POS at a -3 so that placed POS in 3rd place heading in Sunday’s quarterfinal matches. The 10:00am game on PC#6 was against the Chiefs who finished 2nd in the other division and unfortunately the POS bats were silent most of the game with some of the harder hits being caught by the Chiefs’ good defensive plays…in the end POS was no match for the Chiefs losing 12-1. On a positive note, this was the best finish by POS at the Provincials finishing 7th so they’ll be looking to improve on that in 2014! A couple of great weekends were had by all of the POS players and families.



POS Rosters for the Provinicals:

Wayne Cosby (Greenthumb) – Coach/Sub (Niagara)

George Douma (A’s) – Coach/Sub (London)

Derek Ackford (Xtreme Contracting) – Coach (Niagara)

Todd Boisvert (Greenthumb) (London/Niagara)

David Hatt (Greenthumb) (London)

Paul Power (Greenthumb) (Niagara)

Bob Peppler (Storm) (London/Niagara)

Joey Pilkey (Storm) (London/Niagara)

Ashley Teeter (Falcons) (London/Niagara)

Cas Litwin (Falcons) (London/Niagara)

Sean Dunn (Falcons) (London)

Jeff Hutchinson (Bradley Motors Shifters) (London/Niagara)

Mike Anderson (Xtreme Contracting) (London/Niagara)

Duncan McDonald (St. Louis Devils) (London/Niagara)

Ryan Rayner (St. Louis Devils) (London/Niagara)

Tim Sullivan (not in WMSPL) (London/Niagara)

Mark Brown (not in WMSPL) (Niagara)

“D” stands for Dumb idea

POS headed to Uxbridge for the Diamond Duster tournament on the weekend wanting to play in the Master’s division but found out that there weren’t enough teams and on top of that was bumped up to the “D” division of REC since they won the REC “E” tourney last year.

POS struggled to match the D level talent in its first 3 round robin games on Saturday by going 0-3 with a minus 30 record.  The first 10-run mercy game had POS losing to the Barrie Athletics in 5 innings at HQ on BON E in the 9:05am game.  The second 10-run mercy was a 4 inning affair against High Voltage (from Peterborough) on BET 1 in the 12:20pm match.  The third game was another 10-run loss but POS was able to play their first full D level game as Havoc (from Belleville) won the 2:20pm game on BET 2.  The Saturday evening match at 5:45pm on PPA 2 (Port Perry Arena) had POS (ranked 20 out of 20 teams after the 3 RR games) taking on the Ajax Beermen in the 19vs20 game to set the seeding for the Sunday elimination games.  POS had a solid game offensively and defensively as they racked up their first ever D level win by a score of 17-9 and moved up the standings…finishing the RR games with a 1-3 record.

Sunday morning had POS taking on another 1-3 team to set the bottom seeds with the top 12 teams getting a bye.  In that 10am game on BET 1, POS was taking on Twisted (from Oshawa) who was very similar looking to the Triple Threat team they played a few weeks ago in Oshawa.  Like that game a couple weeks ago POS had their bats going and solid defense helped them get the 13-3 mercy victory.  With that victory POS had little time to celebrate as the 11:05am game was about to start on BET 1 against one of the top teams in the Dirt Dawgs (from Uxbridge).  POS had an early lead which quickly vanished with the hitting by the Dawgs but POS showed some resilience being forced to score runs in the 5th and 6th to avoid the mercy loss and ended up losing by a score of 27-20 to end the POS D level experience.

Next up for POS will be the SPO Provincials in London on August 16-18. 

POS Roster for the Tournament:

Wayne Cosby (Greenthumb) – Coach/Sub

Todd Boisvert (Greenthumb)

David Hatt (Greenthumb)

Paul Power (Greenthumb)

Bob Peppler (Storm)

Joey Pilkey (Storm)

Sean Dunn (Falcons)

Jeff Hutchinson (Bradley Motors Shifters)

Derek Ackford (Xtreme Contracting)

Mike Anderson (Xtreme Contracting)

Duncan McDonald (St. Louis Devils)

Ryan Rayner (St. Louis Devils)

Mark Brown (not in WMSPL)

Tim Sullivan (not in WMSPL)

POS takes it all in Oshawa

POS was looking to get an early jump on the 2013 season by playing an SPN qualifier in Oshawa over the weekend.  Playing in the Men’s 35E+ Division POS started the weekend with an early Saturday morning game at 8am on diamond #4 against Half Cut.  It was a cold morning with the temperature around zero and the sun shining through the infield/outfield from behind home plate made fielding a challenge but POS took the opening game with a score of 8-5 with Bob singling in the top of the 7^th to score 2 runs and give POS the cushion heading into the bottom of the inning.

Game 2 also on diamond #4 was at 10:30am and it was a little warmer and the sun was a little higher.  The opposition in this was There’s Always Time which had some players from the Coulas Bone Crushers in the WMSPL.  With Luke from the Bone Crushers pitching, POS was very familiar with him but could not solve him early on in the game and found themselves trailing 8-5 heading into the bottom of the 7^th.  Queue the comeback as POS scored 3 runs to tie the game and with 2 outs Bob smacked a triple to the gap in right to score Mike from first to win the game.

Game 3 on diamond #3 at 3:30pm had the 2-0 POS taking on the 0-2 Black Listed team in the final game of the round robin.  The weather was cloudy and a few innings had a sleet/hail mixture.  POS had a few good innings and ending up taking this game by a 15-10 score and clinching first place after the round robin.  This meant a re-match again Black Listed on Sunday while the other 2 teams played in the other semi-final.

Sunday’s semi-final game started at 12pm on diamond #4 and after a night of rainfall there were some rather large puddles in the infield to contend with.  SPN changed the format due to the threatening weather and had batters starting with a 1-1 count to try and speed up the games.  POS came out swinging taking an early 4-0 lead after the 1^st inning.  Defense was solid only giving up 1 run and heading into the bottom of the 6^th had a chance to win this one by the 10-run mercy rule…Bob hit a single to score Mike from 3^rd and give POS the 11-1 win.  POS was heading to the finals in a re-match against There’s Always Time.

Sunday’s final was also on diamond #4 at 2:30pm with the sun actually trying to peak through the clouds at times and the infield had dried up a little.  Since the weather had improved SPN removed the starting 1-1 count on the batters for the final.  With Luke not pitching for this game POS jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the 1^st but There’s Always Time responded in the 2^nd with a 5-spot and was leading after 3 innings by that 5-2 margin.  POS batted around in the 4^th scoring 4 runs to take the lead and then followed that up with a 6-run mercy in the 5^th.  POS gave up a few runs making the game closer but it was a 2-run dinger by Bob in the 6^th that put this game out of reach giving POS the championship with the 16-9 win.  It was a great weekend for POS going a perfect 5-0 and a great way to finish off the 2012 season.  Looking forward to another great WMSPL Season and POS Tournaments in 2013!  

A summary of the games:

Saturday, 8:00am, Oshawa#4, POS-8 vs Half Cut-5
Saturday, 10:30am, Oshawa#4, POS-9 vs There’s Always Time-8
Saturday, 3:30pm, Oshawa#3, POS-15, Black Listed-10
Sunday, 12:00pm, Oshawa#4, POS-11 vs Black Listed-1
Sunday, 2:30pm, Oshawa#4, POS-16 vs There’s Always Time-9

POS Roster for the Tournament:

Wayne Cosby (Greenthumb/Woodland) – Coach/Sub

Todd Boisvert (Greenthumb/Woodland)

Dave Watkins (Greenthumb/Woodland)

Paul Power (Greenthumb/Woodland)

George Douma (A’s)

Bob Peppler (Storm)

Joey Pilkey (Storm)

Ashley Teeter (Falcons)

Cas Litwin (Falcons)

Sean Dunn (Falcons)

Jeff Hutchinson (Bradley Motors Shifters)

Derek Ackford (Xtreme Contracting)

Mike Anderson (Xtreme Contracting)

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)