Good Showing for the 11U Black Sox in London

Over the weekend, the 11U Black Sox travelled to London, ON for the London Talons A

Tournament. The Sox were looking to continue their momentum after hosting the North Bay

Panthers the past weekend, going 3-0 in that exhibition series.

Their first match up was the Ajax Spartans, and the Soo came out swinging forcing a 12-0

mercy win. Lincoln Rennison, Thomas Hirvi, and Reed Keating each contributed two hits in

the win. Strong pitching by Charlie Truman and Luca Chartrand helped secure the win.

Facing the host team next, the Soo continued with great hitting and strong defensive play,

securing their second win by a score of 9-6. Completing round robin action, the next

opponent was the undefeated Leamington Lakers, who lost to the Soo in the Windsor

tournament last month. Tensions were high as both teams battled in the heat with

Leamington scoring four runs in the first inning. The Soo would battle back to answer two ofthe runs in the bottom of the inning and ultimately couldn’t catch them, as Leamington

would go on to win 9-4.

As the Black Sox headed into championship Sunday as the 2nd seed in their pool, they faced

off against the undefeated 1st seed, the Niagara Falls Falcons. The Soo once again had

strong offensive efforts as they came out scoring three runs in the first inning. They

continued to find their bats as they drove in three more runs in the third and fifth inning,

securing their spot in the semi-finals by a score of 9-3. This was a huge win for the team as

Charlie Truman led on the pitching mound and had collected two hits along with Thomas

Hirvi. Jax Palahnuk and Reed Keating each stole multiple bases as well.

Entering the semi-finals against the Beamsville Stingers, it was a big game as both teams

fought for every inch to qualify for the finals in the 16-team tournament. The Sox were

leading by three runs heading into the 4th inning, and held Beamsville to one run in the 4th, in

which the Soo matched in the bottom of the inning. In the 5th and 6th innings Beamsville

went on to score five runs, holding the Sox to zero. Down by 2 in the bottom of the 7th, the

Soo rallied to score the tying runs to force an extra inning. With everyone on the edge of

their seats, Beamsville would score five runs in the extra inning to the Soo’s three and

would advance to the finals. It was a hard-fought game and tournament by all the players

that saw exciting, competitive baseball action.

After securing their top 4 finish this past weekend, the team is looking for some redemption

as they travel to Ajax for the Ajax Mega tournament on Aug. 1st