Mini Angels Take Final Game of the Year With Stifling Win Over Kamloops

Mini Mosquito
Abbotsford Red Angels 8
Kamloops 4

Win the last game of the year. Every team wants to do that, especially if it means winning the championship! Sadly, it wasn’t a championship game, but the Abby Red Mini Mosquito Angels were happy to win on Sunday against Kamloops in their final game of the season. The team was playing at the beautiful Cloverdale Ball Park in the final tournament of the summer season. The boys were winless for the weekend, having played poorly in a loss to Highland Little League on Friday, much better in a loss to Tsawwassen on Saturday morning, and even better in one of their finest games of the year, a heartbreaking loss on Saturday night against North Delta. So coming into the Sunday morning game, the boys really wanted some excellent play to result in a win to finish out the year. That’s how it happened. In a well played, tight, defensive struggle against a game Kamloops squad, the boys were determined to show their families, their coaches, and themselves, how much they had improved over the short but intense summer ball season. The team was able to show off some timely hitting, excellent base running, solid fielding, and the best all around team pitching performance of the summer, holding their opponent to only 4 runs, 3 of them coming in the first inning. Bryn Alexander, Mattias Meleg, Logan Clark, Jimmy Boulanger, Breandan McLaughlin, Trey Gairdner and Ronan Sexton all pitched extremely well in shutting down the Kamloops bats. Ronan was selected Player of the Game, as he closed out the final inning on the mound with 3 strikeouts, and also led the way with his bat, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2 himself. While he earned the MVP award, in fact the win came on the backs of all 10 players who played one of their best team games of the summer.

Despite the disappointment of not coming up with more wins in the final tournament, the coaches were pleased with the summer season. The team was undefeated in league play and finished at the top of the table. More importantly, the team showed remarkable growth of the course of the month. Individual players took huge strides in their development as ball players, and the team came together to play some great baseball as a group.  The coaches remarked that the team which played on Sunday was almost unrecognizable in comparison to the team that took the field for their first game back at the beginning of the summer. It was a rewarding month, as the team worked hard, learned and competed. The boys improved their skills and knowledge of the game of baseball, and all the players, coaches (and families) had a ton of fun together!