Sep 06, 2017 | Jeff Keller | 596 views
Minor Mosquitos Finish 3rd at ICBAs
Stratford Nationals Festival Furniture Mosquitos traveled to Waterloo for the year end final tournament.
Stratford Nationals Festival Furniture Mosquitos traveled to Waterloo for the year end final tournament. In their first game against Woodstock, Finn Stewart pitched a great game not letting any runs in. Scoring for Stratford was Brett Knechtel, Andrew Leitch, Noah Roth, Max Harvey, Nolan Trainor, Noah McIlwain, Jack Buckley, Liam McEvoy and Finn Stewart with Nick Betto hitting a double. Stratford mercied Woodstock in the 5th inning 16-0.
With a quick break, the Nationals took on the Listowel Legionnaires. Although Nick Betto, Nolan Trainor, Kieran Butler, Quinn Appel, Finn Stewart and Andrew Leitch all had great hits, Stratford fell short with only Nolan Trainor and Finn Stewart scoring. Final Score 12-2.
Saturday afternoon Stratford took on Waterloo on their home turf. The Nationals were down 8-1 going into the 4th inning when the bats started to get hot. Quinn Appel and Brett Knechtel both hit doubles, Max Harvey pulled out two doubles and Nick Betto cranked out a double and a triple. Stratford was able to tie the game up in the 7th inning! With home game advantage we went into the 8th inning not giving up any runs to Waterloo. Brett Knechtel hit a double with Noah McIlwain coming up to bat. With a full count, he cranked the ball into right field to get Knechtel to third who then went home when the Waterloo outfielder overthrew first base and the ball went out of play. The Nationals win an exciting game 11-10! Coach Jamie Frey noted that this was the best come back they had all year!
With another short break for Stratford, they took on Woodstock 1 once again. Great catches were had by Quinn Appel at 2nd base, Finn Stewart at short stop as well as Andrew Leitch, Kieran Butler and Noah Roth all in the outfield. Scoring for Stratford were Nick Betto, Jack Buckley, Noah McIlwain, Kieran Butler, Max Harvey, Finn Stewart, with Andrew Leitch, Brett Knechtel and Nolan Trainor all hitting doubles. Another victory for Stratford with a 20-16 win, keeping them alive until the next round.
Stratford took on Listowel for a second time on Sunday morning with Jack Buckley getting on base at first bat and Nolan Trainor hitting a double, and scoring early in the game but just wasn't enough for a win. Unfortunately, Stratford lost to the first seeded team.
Stratford went home with a successful 3rd place finish out of ten teams, up two spots from their original seed. Coach Jamie Frey and Assistant Coaches Jason McIlwain and Brett Buckley were very proud of the boys for playing with heart and never giving up.