Junior Black Sox fall in NEL semi

The Soo Cambrian Junior Black Sox of the Northern Elite League had high hopes heading into the league playoffs in Sudbury over the weekend.

With a spot in the Ontario Baseball Association Junior C tournament being held locally on August 20-22, the Sox were looking to pick up some momentum heading into the two day tournament.

The Sox opened the tournament on Saturday with a tight 2-1 loss at the hands of the Timmins Whiskey Jacks, who finished the regular season with a 10-5 record.

The first place-Sudbury Lakers, who lost just four of 15 games during the regular season, opened the tournament with a 6-5 victory over the Valley East, who finished last in the NEL with a 1-14 record.

Later on opening day, Sudbury earned themselves a berth in the championship with a 10-4 win over Timmins.

The Black Sox, who finished the regular season in third in the NEL with an 8-7 record, earned themselves a spot in the semi-finals against Timmins as the knocked off Valley East 6-2.

Day two opened up with Timmins and the Black Sox facing off with the winner earning a berth in the finals against Sudbury.

In the game, the Sox ran into a problem that plagued them for much of the weekend as they could not muster up enough offence to knock off the Whiskey Jacks. Timmins proceeded to end the locals weekend beating the Sox 5-1 to earn a championship berth.

In the title game, Timmins produced plenty of offensive support but could not hold off the powerful Sudbury offence as the Lakers took the Northern Elite League playoff title with a 17-10 victory over Timmins.

With the NEL playoffs now behind them, the Junior Black Sox will now prepare for the OBA tournament, which kicks off on August 20. The tournament will be the first of four OBA tournaments being held locally.

The next tournament will be the Midget A tournament, which takes place from August 27-29. The final two OBA tournaments will be held From September 3-5 as the Bantam A and Mosquito A divisions hold their OBA tournaments.