Though the offensive numbers might jump off the page, it was team defence that left Sudbury Rookie Ball Shamrocks' head coach Craig Thompson most pleased, as his young crew returned from the West Hill Baseball League Select Tournament in Toronto with a championship banner in hand last weekend.
The triumph came in spite of the fact that the Sudbury lads dropped their opening encounter, a 14-12 loss at the hands of the Toronto Playgrounds Selects, a far better result than when the teams first met up last summer. Shamrocks game MVP honours would be awarded to Colton Nowoselsky.
In rookie ball, trying to hold the opponents to single digits in any single game is no easy feat, and the northern squad just barely missed turning the trick in game two, edging the Whitby Chiefs 12-10 as Khade Metatawabin showed the way for the locals.
Ethan Thompson was front and center in a game three offensive explosion, named as the team MVP as Sudbury pounded the host West Hill Blue Hawks 32-0, scoring ten times in the top of the first inning alone.
The 2-1 record was enough to propel the Shamrocks into a semi-final battle with the top team in the other division, with coach Thompson and company moving on to the final thanks to a 14-4 decision over the Markham Mariners. Individual Sunday morning accolades would be doled out to Alex Marshfield.
A three hour rain delay did little to slow down the Sudbury express, bursting out of the gates with a six spot in the very first inning and conquering the Ancaster Diamondbacks 18-2, as the Shamrocks excelled in the field, yet again.
Josh St. Germain would be named as game MVP, with the Sudbury roster also including Lucas Gutscher, Brayden Crepeault, Carter Baron, Cavan Clarke, Matthew Trottier, Ryan Thompson, Ty Dubreuil, Will Wierzbicki, assistant coaches Kyle Gutscher and Steve Marshfield and bench coach Brendan Clarke.
