Sep 04, 2023 | Bevan | 1345 views
10Us finish 2nd at OBAs
The WK Financial 10U Nationals are 10U OBA B Silver Medalist.
The 10U Nationals hosted the OBA's in Stratford this weekend and they represented the city proudly by advancing to the championship game where they fell just short to the Woodstock Wranglers.
The tournament began Friday for the Nationals against the same Wranglers. The Wranglers walked away with an 11-5 victory sending the Nationals to the loser side of the bracket and alot of work ahead of them to get to the championship. The game was back and forth until the Wranglers scored 4 in the 5th to put themselves ahead for good. Hayes Francis got the call on the mound for the Nationals and was successful over 3 plus innings before giving way to Grayson O'Donnell who did a great job to keep the Nationals close. The offence was sparked by Cam Gibson who had 2 singles and 2 RBI, Jake Hurley added an RBI on a double and Bryce Burdett and Bentley Denstedt contributed the other 2 RBI for the Nationals.
Game 2 saw the boys go up against the Northumberland Jacks, Kohen McLeod got the call on the mound and was effective over his 2 innings of work striking out 3, the Nationals then turned to Hurley who was able to hold the jacks at bay in his loan inning of work. Grayson DeGroot followed Hurley and was dominant before giving way to Carson Schenk who continued to keep the Jacks bats quiet. The Offence was sparked when Randall Everett lead off with a triple, followed by an Easton Mathieson walk and a Francis 2 run Triple the Nationals were off running scoring 4 in the first inning. Cale Klumper had a sinlgle, RBI and 2 runs scored as the Nationals won 16-5.
This set up a matchup with the Kingsville Kings and the Nationals found themselves on the right side of 9-4 win. Everett got the ball for the Nationals and was effective over his 4 1/3rd innings striking out 7 and giving up only 4 hits before handing the ball over to Hurley who went 2 and 2/3rd innings of 3 hit ball striking out 2 and letting his defence work behind. The offence was sparked by Mathieson who was 3 for 3 on the afternoon scoring 2 runs stealing 2 bases and driving in an RBI himself, McLeod had 2 singles and an RBI and Gibson was 2 for 3 with 3 RBIS in the game.
The Nationals found themselves up against the Dorchester Diamondbacks next the team who beat them in the Semi Finals of their own tournament in June. The Nationals found themselves down by 4 heading to the top of the 7th inning when the bats came alive all with 2 outs and a spectacular catch by Schenk in the Bottom of the 7th secured the Nationals a 9-8 victory and sent them to Championship Sunday. Gibson started for the Nationals and was effective over 4 plus innings giving up 4 runs while striking out 4 before turning things over to McLeod who went 2.2 innings to secure the win for the Nationals. The offence was led by Francis who again gave the Nationals the lead with a 2 run Double in the 1st inning, Hurley helped out going 1 for 3 and his most important hit coming in the 7th inning and scoring 2 runs for the Nationals.
Sunday Morning put the Nationals up against the undefeated Simcoe Giants, Hayes Francis got the ball and was incredible for the team going 4.2 thirds of 4 hit baseball striking out 9 before needing to give the ball to ODonnell to induce a fly ball to end the mercy shortend game 15-2 for the Nationals. Francis helped himself at the plate by hitting a Grand slam in the 2nd inning and finishing the game 3 for 3 with 5 RBI, Grayson DeGroot single to right centre in the 3rd was smoked and cut off in the gap, Bentley Denstedt was great in right field making a great number of catches for the Nationals, who with the win won the Bye to the Final.
The final was a rematch with the Wranglers, a battle right to the end that saw the Wranglers take the OBA title with a 9-8 victory over the Nationals. Both teams scored 4 in the first inning before the pitchers got settled in. It was Mathieson for the Nationals and Zehr for Woodstock who were able to keep both teams offence at bay for most of the game. The Nationals found themselves down by 4 heading into the 7th again, Mathieson got things rolling with a double, McLeod scored him and the rally was in motion before coming up just short. Hurley continued his great weekend at the plate by going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI, McLeod was 3 for 3 with 2 RBI. The boys fought right till the end coming up just short earning the silver medal in a great game down to the final out.
Congrats to this amazing group of Kids who were able to win their ICBA a few weeks ago, Easton, Hayes, Kohen, Cam, Randall, Cale, Grayson O, Grayson D, Bryce, Carson, Bentley and Jake, thank you for an incredible year of baseball.