Wildcats baseball team emerges from OFSAA West Regionals

By Ron Giofu

The St. Thomas of Villanova Wildcats boys baseball team are one of four teams vying for a provincial championship this week.

The Wildcats travelled to London for the OFSAA baseball championship, with the games being played today (June 14). Villanova made the provincial semifinals thanks to their 4-1 record at the OFSAA West Regionals last week. They join Mount Carmel as the two teams out of the West Region.

Villanova played twice last Wednesday in Woodslee. They opened the West Regionals with a 5-1 win over St. James.

Later that day, they went up against Notre Dame and suffered a 4-3 defeat in extra innings. With that loss, it meant they had to win all three games Thursday.

The scene shifted to Mic Mac Park in Windsor for the second day of games. The first game for Villanova was in the morning against A.N. Myer and ended up being a nailbiter. The Wildcats led 4-1 going into the seventh inning only to have A.N. Myer rally in the top half of the inning to tie the score. Villanova was unfazed, putting up a run in the bottom half of the inning to advance.

“We’re trying to get back to OFSAA,” Villanova head coach Tom Beale explained after the A.N. Myer game.

Beale said there was pressure as Villanova was the defending back-to-back WECSSAA and SWOSSAA champions.

Depth is the strength of this year’s Wildcats team, he added, as well as a solid pitching staff. The loss against Notre Dame has been their only one of the season to this point.

After the victory over A.N. Myer, the Wildcats had little trouble with their next opponent Bradford. Villanova recorded a 16-0 shutout win.

The third and final game was a rematch with Notre Dame. This time, it was a different result, as the Wildcats advanced to OFSAA thanks to a 2-1 win.

“After the loss, it was nice to see them again,” said Beale.

Beale credited pitcher Cooper Otterman for his complete game win Thursday afternoon in the rematch with Notre Dame, as well as timely hitting and clutch defense. The defensive effort against Notre Dame in the first game wasn’t their best but he said they improved and cleaned things up in the rematch.

“There’s only four teams left in the province,” he added.

Beale said he was “cautiously optimistic” going to London, noting they gained OFSAA experience in 2022. He added the coaching staff was pleased with the team’s effort Thursday knowing they had to win three baseball games in one day.

“We were there last year so hopefully we can carry us this year,” he said. “We are incredibly proud of the boys. They are so resilient.”

Villanova athletes win track and field medals at OFSAA

Two athletes from North Star High School also travel to Ottawa for provincial meet

By RTT Staff

A pair of track and field athletes from St. Thomas of Villanova Secondary School were very successful at the recent Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association championships held at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility in Ottawa.

Kalman Chyz won the gold in the senior boys’ javelin and Wildcats’ teammate Ezra Hewitt brought home the bronze in the senior boys shot put.

For Chyz, he has not been beaten all season long.

He won the local WECSSAA meet back in May with a toss of 52.50 metres. That was bettered at SWOSSAA at 53.67 and he won the recent OFSAA west regionals, tossing the javelin 53.12 metres.

At OFSAA in Ottawa, Chys saved the best for last as on his fifth of sixth throws, he faulted on the last attempt, he came up with a season best of 56.61 to win the gold.

For Hewitt, his fourth of six attempts at OFSAA was good for bronze as he had a throw of 14.48 metres. At the regionals he was second at 14.47 metres.

North Star High School’s Declan Veldhuis ran a 50.47 in the senior boys 400m preliminaries but did not qualify for the finals. Lily Mulder, also of North Star was 12.90 in the preliminaries of the senior girls 100m.