Gold at the Peewee A Noel Rehaume Tournament
The Abbotsford Angels Pee Wee A (Black) team had another successful weekend, winning the Noel Rehaume Pee Wee A tournament hosted by Ridge Meadows.
The Angels opened the tournament with a 14-12 loss to Campbell River, a game that could have gone either way as the Angels had the lead for most of the game. The Angels bounced back with wins over Ridge Meadows #2 16-6 and Cloverdale 14-4, securing 2nd place heading into the playoff round.
In the semi-final vs. Kamloops, the Angels bats took a while to wake up and were able to pull out a 10-4 win behind a dominant pitching performance by Aiden Cutrell, who allowed no hits and struck out 13 of 18 batters he faced over 4 2/3 innings.
The championship game featured the top ranked Ridge Meadows #1 team vs. the #2 ranked Angels. The Angels batters easily handled the Ridge Meadows pitching, as they combined for 20 hits, 10 RBI’s and 15 runs in a 15-4 score. Aiden Cutrell and Kaleb Pruden each hit home runs for the Angels with Mattias Meleg pitching another gem as he allowed only 8 hits over 5 1/3 innings.
While the championship trophy was a definite hi-light of the weekend, the biggest hi-light was the coaches and players meeting Larry Walker Sr., the umpire-in-chief for Ridge Meadows. The Angels players were given “homework” by their coaches prior to the tournament to research and write a short report about Larry Walker Jr., who was born and raised in Maple Ridge. The team presented their reports about Larry Walker to his father, and the Angels coaches and players will remember this event for a long time. It was truly an honour to meet the father of the best Canadian baseball player of all time.
contributed by Paul Nivins