Junior B OBA’s Wrap Up

Sunday’s finish to the Junior B portion of the Ontario Baseball Association Championships was certainly interesting.

After the St. Thomas Tomcats advanced to the final four with a win over Chatham on Saturday night, the Tomcats went on to hand Oakridge their first loss of the tournament by a 9-1 score. The St. Thomas win also meant that there would be a three team playoff to determine the Junior B champion. In the other morning game on Sunday, Barrie battled back from a late deficit to defeat Stoney Creek 6-5 in eight innings to move on to face St. Thomas with the winner moving on to face Oakridge for the title.

This is where things got very interesting. The St. Thomas game against Barrie, which was scheduled for noon on Sunday at Sinclair fields was pushed back and expected to start at 1 p.m. The game began as expected but the skies opened up and forced the game to be stopped after just half of an inning with hopes that the game would resume as soon as the rain let up. Once the rain did let up, the main diamond at Sinclair was deemed to be unfit to play the game on as grounds crew began their efforts to get the field into a playable condition. While this was going on, the decision was made to move the game to the Queen Elizabeth Fields. While the game was going on, the field at Sinclair would be prepared by the grounds crew in order for it to be ready for the final. Finally, when all was said and done and St. Thomas and Barrie were ready to get back to business, over three hours had passed and the game was set to get going again at 4:15.

St. Thomas took an early 1-0 lead, but the lead was short lived as Barrie tied the game and took the lead in the middle innings and never looked back, holding on for a 3-2 win to move into the championship game against Oakridge, as game that was scheduled to begin just 60 minutes after this game ended around 6 p.m. Sunday night, six hours after the expected start time.

With the championship game set to kick off at 7 p.m., with both teams, as well as the umpiring crew, ready to go, the skies, which had been quiet for nearly three hours, opened up again and let the rainfall. The grounds crew, who had worked all day to get the field into playing condition, had the field in good condition, considering the way the weather had gone during the day. The rain caused another delay in the game, which was pushed back again and expected to start around 8 p.m.

Shortly before eight, the two teams took the field, expecting the rain to hold off and be able to get the game in. With Barrie warming up in the field just prior to the opening pitch, the rain came down again, but only for a short time, which was a good sign that possibly the rain would let up enough to get the game underway and possibly, finished. Again, with Barrie in the field in the top of the first inning and the first Oakridge hitter at the plate, Barrie pitcher David Walters managed to get the first three pitches in before rain caused another stoppage in play, this time for good.

After a lengthy debate between Scott Mills, who helped run the tournament, along with tournament convenor Bob Carricato, the coaches of both teams as well as the umpiring crew, the field was deemed unplayable and the game was called off.

“We did everything we could to get them (the games) in,” Mills said following the decision. “Our grounds crew (consisting of Dan and Ben Warnock) did extra work. Unfortunately, this field doesn’t drain well.”

The game is now expected to be played at a neutral city, which will be agreed upon by both clubs and decided upon by the Series Chair for the Junior B division of the OBA. The game is expected to be played next Saturday in Hamilton at 11 a.m. although the final decision has not been made as field availability would be the only obstacle in the way of the game getting in.

Despite the weather on the final day, local baseball fans were treated to quality baseball and with three more OBA tournaments scheduled to be held locally, fans will have the opportunity to watch even more quality baseball. Next OBA action will be next weekend as the Midget OBA tournament will be held locally starting on Friday.