Assante ‘96 Stingers Win Orillia Rep Tourney

ORILLIA, ON. - The Assante ‘96 Stingers won the rain shortened Orillia OBA PeeWee Rep. Tournament this past weekend. This was the team’s second attempt at the tournament and was sweet revenge for last year when the club was knocked out in the preliminary round. The Stingers opening game was against the defending champion Clarington Major Orioles. The Stingers started Lucas Brown, who didn’t give up a hit through the first four innings. On offence, a towering two run home run by Paul Wilkinson and Colin Embree’s 3 for 4 performance put the Orioles on the ropes. Ty Backer relieved Brown and closed the game out with a three up, three down inning to preserve a 10-3 victory.

The Stingers second game was against a confidant Oshawa team coming off a third place finish in Kingston the previous weekend. However, Stingers’ lefty Ben Bosselle used great control and a variety of speeds to frustrate Oshawa and settle down the Stingers. In the third inning, with the outcome still in doubt and Oshawa pressing, Oshawa’s clean-up hitter drove the ball to the right field foul pole and Colin Jerome executed a perfect throw to the relay man who delivered the ball to catcher Kyle Wilkinson for a bang-bang out at home plate. After that, Bosselle cruised through his 5 2/3 innings before reaching his pitch count. Cody Sutcliffe came in from the bullpen to throw just one pitch to record the final out in a 7-2 victory.

In the Finals, The Stingers played the Clarington Minors in the sweltering heat. The Stingers, having the benefit of Brown and Bosselle’s long starts in the first two games, still had two key starters, Sutcliffe and Embree available to pitch. While pitching got the Stingers to the Finals, it was the bats that took over against the Clarington Minors. Leading the way were Brown and Kurtis Winrow who each went 3-3 with a home run and combined to score 7 runs in a 17-12 victory.

Stingers coach Chris Winrow was thrilled with the championship.

“One of the outcomes of this early season success is that the players understand that the entire team has to focus and contribute on every pitch to make it through a weekend," he said.

"We can hardly wait until our next tournament in Mississauga.”

Submitted to BayToday.ca