Rotarians finish fourth (new)

Carte Blanche Rotarians knew they were up against it in the Select Ontario Baseball Association provincial championships in Hamilton.

The North Bay team, only one of two non-city select teams in the 12-club tournament, lost 10-0 to Oakville, the top-ranked team in the province in their first game.

Another interesting side bar to the weekend was the fact that North Bay had the only female player in the person of Megan Marcella, who hit over .400 for the weekend and drew the praise of tournament officials.

The Rotarians rebounded nicely after their first-game loss and hammered Mississauga 18-3 in their next start.

The win went to Sean O’Kane with Jordon Perry leading the way with two hits and four RBIs.

Jason Birch had two hits including a two-run homer and Nick Cicci also chipped in with two hits and tyhree RBIs. Brian Guy also had two hits and drove in a pair as did Jim Daly.

Their next game was arguably the most exciting of the tournament as Carte Blanche battled Whitby. After two innings of scoreless ball, Whitby’s bats came alive and they scored seven runs in the top half of the third inning.

Carte Blanche rose to the challenge and took an 8-7 lead in their half of the third. The first three batters walked to load the bases and Brian Finner followed with a two-run single. This was followed by two-run singles by Nick Gordon and Brian Guy to close the gap to one run.

North Bay took the lead on a two-run single by Mike Saad.

Playing on a time curfew, time was lost during a rain delay and when play resumed, Whitby tied the game with a run in the top half of the fourth inning.

With two out in their half, Nick Cicci was safe on a fielder’s choice and Brian Guy was walked. Nick Gordon ended the contest with a long to-run double. Gordon finished with three hits and provided a strong relief effort on the mound.

Sunday morning, North Bay started with a game against Ajax. Jordy Brouse pitched a strong four innings allowing only two hits. Jason Birch, Mike Saad and Nick Gordon all had two hits. Despite being run at the plate on two occasions leading to an ejection of an Ajax player, catcher Jim Daly caught a very strong game.

The final game saw Toronto Bloor defeat North Bay 8-3. Terry Seguin led the Rotarians with 2 hits.

“Our group of ballplayers played some very good ball against some excellent competition”, coach Dave Saad said. “A lot of these teams play each other on a regular basis and we were definitely in tough as they have a much greater area to draw players from.

“At the conclusion of our games, the tournament convenor expressed how pleased he was to have such a quality team participate and was happy to see how well we really did. This is a credit to the quality people who make up this team,” Saad added.