Summer athletes battle it out in finals

For parents with children involved in both Valley East Minor Soccer and Sudbury Girls Softball, these can be challenging times indeed. For the past few years, the two local sport organizations have featured schedules that virtually mirrored one another.

Not only do both groups wrap up their summer campaigns with playoffs set on exactly the same weekends, butboth also run mid-season tournaments that coincide on the same dates at the end of June.

This past Sunday saw a slew of championship battles contested at both the Howard Armstrong Complex and the Terry Fox Sports Complex, as more than 2,000 young athletes brought the curtain down on another exciting season.

This past Sunday, more than 2,000 young athletes brought the curtain down on another exciting season.

In Hanmer, darkness was just settling in as the last of the gold and bronze medal soccer encounters were held. The Valley East Lions claimed the U-18 coed bragging rights with a 3-0 win, as Joel Gravelle, Richard Laporte and Patrick Moisan found the back of the net for coach Marcel Gravelle.

The U-18 consolation affair featured a hat trick from British import Joe Thompson, as Artesian Arctic doubled the Valley East Renegades 4-2. Nick Guzzo rounded out the scoring for the winners while Dylan Gow and Randy Boucher replied in a losing cause.

Roxxane Seguin broke a 1-1 deadlock with the only goal of the second half as Valley Dental Clinic trimmed Lou’s Shoe Repair 2-1 to grab top spot in the U-18 girls division. Cindy Seresse and Kelsey Langlois had traded first half goals in a contest that featured some outstanding work by the goalkeepers.

The U-10 coed championship required a shootout as the Valley East Purple Renegades slid past Onucky Fire & Security Solutions 5-4. A balanced attack for the victors found Olivier Dawson, Natalie Carriere, Patrick Godin, Brady Renaud and Braden Paquette all hitting the score sheet, while Aidan Martel, with three goals, and Sebastien Venne answered for OFSS.

If you were looking for shootouts on Sunday, the U-12 girls division was the place to find it, as three of the four final games were decided on penalty kicks. Canada Brokerlink and Valley East Lions fought their way through 60 minutes of scoreless soccer before Tiffany Ross converted in a dramatic fashion, lifting Brokerlink to a 1-0 win.

A pair of shutouts in U-14 girls played out as the Valley East Renegades blanked the Kin Club 3-0 to lay claim to gold medals, while Old Rock Café secured bronze with a 4-0 whitewash of Toppers Pizza.

The Valley East Lions proved to be the top of the class of a very large congregation of Young Adult teams, getting two-goal efforts from both Andrew Leclair and Robin Dupuis in a 5-0 manhandling of Cranky Joe’s (Orange).

Joshua Stack registered the remaining tally for the Lions.

Kaitlyn Walker chalked up an impressive four goals, leading RV Doctor to a 6-2 win over Popcorn Video and picking up the U-8 girls hardware in the process. Paige Savard scored twice for RV Doctor, with Korey Bodson and Samantha Habicht putting the kernel in the frying pan (a very bad pun indeed!) for Popcorn Video.

Northern Sports Photography scored early and often, downing the Valley East Regenades 7-1 in U-14 coed play.

Tyler St Denis racked up the hat trick, while Jesse Henry, Luc Seguin, Aaron Campbell and Roxanne Savoie scored once each. Brandon Kingsley broke the shutout bid, recording the only goal for the Renegades.

There was a battle to the final whistle in the U-10 girls grand finale as Mackenzie Blain scored the game-winner in a 1-0 Northway Bus Lines victory over ’89 Electric. Canadian Tire picked up bronze with a 3-0 win over Consbec on goals from Brooke Whitteker, Alexis Gunther and Sophia Masterson.

Off to the diamonds of the Terry Fox Complex as the Rastall Rebel squirts were the only team to complete the sweep of both the mid-season and end of year tournaments. In a rematch of the end of June battle, Rastall scored four times in the opening frame, cruising to a 9-3 win.

Northern Sports Photography took a step up from the silver medal performance earlier this year, thumping the Manpower Maniacs 20-6 in the bantam championship affair. A three-run home run by Celine Mallais, belted deep to the outfield, highlighted the impressive offensive attack by NSP.

Meanwhile in Midget play, solid defensive play was the key as Bristol Machine upended Patrick Roofing 10-4.

Randy Pascal is the voice of Eastlink Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.