The boys came to play this weekend in Kitchener for their ICBA Championship tournament. 1st place in the regular season set up a 1st round matchup with last place Waterloo in the double knockout event.
Easton Mathieson started game 1 for the Nationals and went 2 1/3 innings on 40 Pitches before giving way to Grayson O'Donnell and Cale Klumper to close the door, the nationals pitching staff walked away with a line of, 1H allowed on 0Runs walking 4 and striking out a combined 9 batters in a 9-0 Nationals win. The offence was led by the 4,5,6 hitters who combined for 5 of the 9 runs batted in led by a Cam Gibson double, and Kohen Mcleod and Jake Hurley each contributing 2 run singles to pace the attack. Bryce Burdett contributed 2 singles and his bat didn't cool off all weekend long.
Game 2 on Saturday saw the Nationals matchup with the Royals from Guelph. McLeod got the start on the mound for the boys and was stellar all game long, he finished with a line of 4 Runs 3 Earned on 7 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. Hurley came in to close the door for the Nationals and the boys escaped with a 13-4 victory. McLeod helped himself at the plate contributing with 3 RBIs on the game Grayson DeGroots bases clearing double was what put the boys in front for good and they didn't look back.
Game 3 put the boys up against the Hamilton Cardinals in what turned out to be a game needing extra innings to decide and the Nationals narrowly escaped with a 17-16 win, having given up 4 runs in the top half of the 8th the Nationals needed to rally and they did just that. Grayson O'Donnell had a great game for the team contributing 3 RBIs on 2 hits, our sparkplug at the top of the order Randall Everett went 3 for 4 for 3 RBI and Mathieson was able to contribute the walk-off 2 run single in the bottom of the 8th to secure the victory and force the boys to need to lose twice on Sunday.
Game 4 put the boys back up against the Guelph Royals with our ace Hayes Francis on the mound, Francis went to work and used the help of his defence when needed. He gave up 1 run on 4 hits over 6 plus innings walking 1 and striking out 4, Mathieson was able to come on in the 7th to secure the victory. The offence was led by a Cam Gibson double that scored 3 runs and a Hurley single that potted the Nationals other 2 runs in a 5-1 victory to claim the championship. Bentley Denstedt was amazing in right field during the game making multiple outs at first when the ball was hit, a Carson Schenk catch in the 4th spoiled any chance the Royals had of getting back in the game and the Nationals rolled to victory.
Congrats to Randall, Easton, Hayes, Kohen, Cam, Jake, Cale, Bryce, Grayson D, Grayson O, Carson and Bentley on an amazing season so far, Regular Season Champs, League Champs now lets go bring home an OBA Championship on Labour Day Weekend.