Newmarket Hawks Major Peewee A Places 3rd at OBA’s

After an exciting win at the YSBA’s our Peewee A Hawks were off to Quinte this past weekend for the OBA’s.  Each and every one of the boys arrived with their never say die attitude and a 16-2 regular season record in tow.   For most of these boys this has been a multi-year journey to get to the OBA’s. Each year has shown them grow as ball players as well as young men.  

The weekend got off to a solid start as the boys won their Friday night opening game 14-6 against the host team Quinte Royals.  Excellent pitching and timely hitting was the key to their opening game win.  Game 2 on Saturday morning saw the boys get off to a slow start.  While they battled hard at the end to catch up they could not close the gap and lost to the Sarnia Braves 10-6 for their first loss of this double knock out weekend.  With their backs now against the wall the boys could not afford to lose another game or they would be out. 

Game 3 Saturday afternoon showed that the Hawks were there to compete as they dominated Kitchener Panthers 14-1.  The stage was now set for an evening game against the same Sarnia team that had defeated them in the morning.  A delayed start meant for a late night (and a long day) for both teams.   Strong pitching held Sarnia to just 2 runs while the Hawks bat’s managed to bring in 3 for a 3-2 well-earned win.  The stage was now set for Sunday morning.  Four teams were remaining- Newmarket, LaSalle Titans and Toronto Playground each with 1 loss and Clarington Orioles going in undefeated.  

Sunday dawned with the morning schedule set.  Newmarket would play undefeated Clarington while LaSalle and Toronto Playground would battle it out on the other diamond.  The battle between Newmarket and Clarington was an example of true Hawks baseball.  The team was excelling in each area.  Pitching was again excellent, defensively the team played very tight and a strong offense propelled the Hawks to a 7-4 victory and giving Clarington their first loss of the OBA’s.  

While Newmarket was defeating Clarington, Lasalle was also winning against Toronto Playground thus eliminating Toronto and leaving just 3 teams – Lasalle, Newmarket and Clarington – all 3 teams now had one loss.  With 3 teams left the challenge was to determine now who would play in the semi-final game and who would get a bye to the finals.  OBA rules are quite clear on this.  Clarington having already received a bye would not get another one and would play in the Semi-Finals.  Newmarket and LaSalle would then be put in a hat to determine who would get the bye and who would need to play in the semi-final game (set to start in 45 minutes).  As was the case for the YSBA’s and even for the full season nothing was ever handed to our Hawks.  They had always had to fight and win for anything they achieved.  This was no different as LaSalle won the hat draw receiving the bye and setting the stage for a very weary bunch of Hawks to play in the semi-finals against Clarington.    

The Hawks picked up where they left off in the morning game and jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the 2nd inning.  Clarington however was not ready to roll over and watch as they evened the game up 6-6 in the bottom half of the 2nd.   The top of the 3rd inning saw the Hawks go down without a run allowing the Clarington bats to come alive in the bottom half and jump ahead 11-6.  The Hawks had another no run inning in the top of the 4th setting up another big Clarington inning in the bottom going up 14-6.  The boys were clearly tired.  The extra game they played was starting to take its toll.   While things may have looked ominous anyone who has followed this team knows that these 12 boys never give up.  They have proven time and again that they have faith in themselves and their teammates to find a little something extra and to perform miracles.  The Hawks bats came alive in the top of the 5th and cut the lead to 14-9. The Hawks desperately needed to shut down Clarington in the bottom half of the 5th.   While each and every boy gave their all that inning they could not stop the Clarington bats.  Five unanswered runs gave Clarington a win and earned them the right to play the OBA finals against LaSalle; which they inevitably won.

While our Hawks were disappointed at not winning it all they held their heads high.  Each and every one of them knew they gave it their all and could very well have won it.  Looking back at the multi-year journey’s for these boys they had accomplished the goals they set out for themselves.  To first build on and increase their skills, secondly to learn how to win and then to learn how to be champions.  The real story however is the teamwork and character that this group of young men have built.  Baseball is a team sport and these Hawks are clearly a great TEAM.