Abby Red Salvage Bronze in Coquitlam

The Abbotsford Angels “Red” AA Peewee team journeyed to Coquitlam last weekend to take part in the Jevon Clarke Memorial Tournament.  The team has had a bit of a “Jeckyl and Hyde” season so far, looking like they could beat anybody one night, and lose to anybody the next.  That pattern was certainly demonstrated in the tourney.

Red opened on Friday night against one of the host Coquitlam-Moody teams.  Josh Siemens and Conall Sexton both delivered excellent pitching, which should have given the team a great chance of winning.  Unfortunately, in one of the most discouraging efforts of the season, an error-filled defense and an anemica offense led to a very disheartening loss.  Player of the Game Conall Sexton, who also came up with two big hits, didn’t even want to accept the award, the loss was so ugly.

On Saturday, a different Abby team showed up.  This time the boys played with vigor on both sides of the ball and were full value for a lopsided 9-2 victory over North Delta. Austin Tuckwood won Player of the Game with a tremendous pitching performance, while many players broke out of slumps at the plate to contribute to an all-around attack.

Thankfully, the team didn’t revert on Sunday, and put together two more fine efforts.  In the early game, Abby Red secured a place in the Bronze Medal game by winning a defensive battle with Vancouver Community.  Both sides contributed some good pitching, with Max Mazstalar earning Player of the Game honours for Abby.

In the late game, Abby earned third place in the tourney with a strong win over Richmond. Tyler Nelson was solid on the mound to start the game.  Josh Siemens then came in, and with a curve ball that Richmond just couldn’t solve, took  Abby Red to the Bronze Medal.  David Draayers earned Player of the Game honours.

Two players who had made consistently excellent contributions throughout the tournament were Conall Sexton and Josh Siemens.  They were rewarded for their efforts with selections to the Tournament All-Star Team.  Of course both would gladly trade individual honours for more team success.

While the team was happy that they had put three good games together, they were left with some regret about what might have been, had they come with the same effort on Friday.

We shall see which Abby Red team emerges in the final weeks of the season.  Will it by Jeckyl? Or Hyde?