Angels Win Silver at Inaugural Can-Am Midsummer Classic

The Angels were gracious hosts in the inaugural Can-Am Midsummer Classic,  giving that honour of taking home the Gold to our guests from the south, the Cascade Crush, after an exciting 7-6 defeat in the Championship Final. It was an entertaining conclusion to what had been a wonderful weekend as 16 teams had descended on Lions and Centennial Parks for some 11U baseball action.

Of course, it was Gold, not Silver, that the boys really wanted!  The team battled hard and wanted to win the Championship in what had been a very special weekend at the ballpark, both on and off the field! The Final was a closely contested encounter of two excellent teams. The Crush took the lead midway through the game. The Angels fought back, but the Crush added to the lead and had a four run cushion in the top of the 5th. The Angels got one back in the 5th, giving them some hope. In the bottom of the sixth they came so very close to pulling off the comeback, scoring two runs, and putting the tying run on 3rd base, before finally relinquishing the final out of the game. The final score was 7-6.

It was a great game, and while it is always tough to lose games like that, in the long term, like any loss, this defeat to a well drilled team like the Crush should only make them stronger moving forward.

The boys had played some excellent baseball all weekend, and were involved in some very exciting games in the pool round, including hard fought affairs with Victoria, the defending Provincial Champs, and an extremely tough team from Kamloops.  The Angels faced the Ridge Meadows Royals in the Semis, who have performed extremely well in tournaments this summer and gave the hosts a strong battle for a spot in the Finals.

Congratulations to the Crush on a deserving victory.  The team also congratulates the North Langley Trappers for winning the inaugural Gold Medal Final in the Tier 2 division.

Off the field, the Angels had a fantastic weekend , as all the families of the two Mosquito AAA teams put on an amazing baseball tournament.  The team sends out a huge thanks to all the volunteers who made this weekend happen, as well huge thanks to all the teams that came to Abbotsford to play baseball.  We hope all the players and their families had as much fun as we did, and plan on coming back to future AAHA tournaments!