Silver Medal at Peewee Nationals

Team BC lost a heartbreaking Final to Team Ontario at the 2014 Canada Baseball 13U National Championships.  The boys came with their sights set on Gold but had to settle for the Silver Medal.  As much as that is disappointing, the perspective that comes with the passing of time will allow everyone to see what a tremendous accomplishment it was to earn Silver at the Peewee AAA Nationals. Certainly, there is no doubt that this team has had a brilliant season, and an incredible amount of success over the past four seasons.

The Gold Medal Final featured a rematch with Team Ontario / Brampton, after the opening game of Pool play which saw Team BC lose a nail-biter.  In that game Ontario opened up a comfortable lead, only to have Team BC battle back.  With bases loaded and the heart of the order up to bat, BC had its chances, but fell just sort.  Much of the same can be said about the Final.

The Gold Medal game was a back and forth shootout. The lead changed hands several times, as the bats for each team were explosive all game long.  Three home runs for Team Ontario through the first 4 innings seemed to give the Easterners enough runs to take it, but a massive three-run dinger from Luke Szmutko put BC into the lead late in the game.

That lead was short-lived, however, and the teams went into the 7th and final inning deadlocked at 10 runs apiece. In the top half of the 7th the BC bats couldn’t muster anything, while in the bottom half the Ontario bats came through,  as a walk-off single scored the winning run to make it 11-10 and earned a National Championship for Team Ontario / Brampton.

To lose the National Championship by one run in the final inning of the season is a bitter pill to swallow.

However, the reality is that the boys have had an amazing season and remarkable success over the past number of years. The Angels captured the Peewee AAA Provincial Championship in early August, on a weekend that saw some amazing baseball and an inspirational display of teamwork, perseverance and mental strength. For the core of the team, this was the 3rd Provincial Championship in 4 years, as the Angels had previously won Gold at both the Mosquito A and Mosquito AAA Championships.  To add a Silver Medal at the National Championships is icing on the cake. Congratulations to a fantastic team of baseball players, and even more importantly, an impressive collection of young men.

2014 Abbotsford Angels Peewee AAA:

• John Boulanger
• Carlin Dick
• Gage Goncalves
• Riley Hall
• Kevin Kim
• Hunter Klassen
• Logan Macdonald
• Tyler Nelson
• Dayton Peters
• Conall Sexton
• Luke Szmutko
• Parker Wakelyn

Team BC pickups:

• Ryan Blight
• Peter Broderick
• Jesse Makaj
• Josh Moscovitz
• Jacob Simons
• Sam Van Snellenberg

Coaches:

• Dan Dick
• Todd Boulanger
• Tim Hall