Barons’ drive for five sidetracked by Simcoe

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — The Leamington Junior Barons’ quest for five consecutive Ontario titles ran into a determined Simcoe Giants team who had other plans on Sunday evening, August 8.

The Giants scored four times in the first inning enroute to a 10-3 drubbing of the Barons at the Kinsmen ball diamonds here.

With that, they became the 2021 Ontario 22U (Junior) A champs.

All of the scoring occurred in the first half of the game, while Leamington stranded numerous baserunners in the latter innings.

Michael Wiebe started on the mound for the locals and had some trouble in the first inning, when Simcoe scored four on a couple of walks, a double to the gap and a throwing error.

As darkness fell over Leamington, the Simcoe Giants celebrated their U22 Ontario A championship Sunday night.

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The Barons came right back in the bottom of the inning to score three of their own as a couple of walks and a passed ball set up Cat Morin’s double to close the gap to 4-3.

But that was all that the locals would get.

Wiebe settled down for the second and third innings, including an inning-ending strikeout with the bases loaded in the third.

The fourth inning proved to be his undoing as Simcoe pushed the score to 8-3. Wiebe gave way to Billy Friesen, who inherited baserunners and allowed two more to make it 10-3.

Friesen shut the door from there, but it was too late for his mates, as they couldn’t push any runs across the plate.

Simcoe escaped bases-loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings to preserve the championship and take the title.

Leamington Junior Barons’ shortstop Brett Enns makes the tag on a Corunna runner who got caught in the rundown between third base and home plate on Sunday afternoon. Third baseman Michael Wiebe (#1) and first baseman Kyle Wall (#34) assisted in the put-out.

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Leamington went into Sunday morning’s games with a 2-0 record, having beaten Corunna and Simcoe previously. A fierce thunderstorm delayed the morning games and when the diamonds dried, the Barons took on Simcoe in the last of the double-knockout preliminary games. A victory would send Simcoe home and set up a final between Leamington and Corunna.

The Barons led 8-7 going into the seventh, when Simcoe exploded for three runs. Leamington got one back in the bottom half but had to settle for a 10-9 loss.

That victory woke the sleeping Giants, as they were able to seek shelter from the heat while Leamington played a semi-final game with Corunna.

Leamington’s Billy Friesen kicks and delivers during Sunday’s final.

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The Barons made no mistake, beating Corunna handily by a 13-1 score, but the back-to-back-to-back games took their toll on the locals and that contributed to the loss in the final.

Leamington kicked off the tournament with a 15-2 routing of Corunna and followed that with a come-from-behind 9-8 win over Simcoe on Saturday afternoon.