26- Southpoint Sun
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Drive alive for Junior Barons
By Fred Groves LEAMINGTON — The ‘Drive for Five’ is alive for the Leamington Barons. Sunday afternoon, July 25, in Essex, the Barons won their fifth straight Essex County Senior Baseball League game. The victory is also another step towards Leamington’s quest for a fifth consecutive provincial title. “My players are humble guys. They are in a senior league and they know to be respectful,” says Barons coach Chris Lamotte. Leamington is the host of the Ontario Baseball Association Junior ‘A’ championship tournament on August 6-8 and playing in a senior loop, albeit in a shortened season, helps the Barons prepare to defend their crown. When asked, Lamotte is quick to admit that the Barons’ pitching is the team’s strength and has confidence in lefty Cat Morin who was in fine form against Essex on Sunday, as well as righthanders Lucas Lamotte, Kameron Wall, Jonathon Fehr, Mike Wiebe and Billy Friesen. “I’ve got guys pitching against the best (senior) teams. Every game has to
be challenging.” An added bonus, and a big one, for the Barons is that they have lefty veteran Will Froese. A standout on the hill for the Woodslee Orioles, who, while not eligible to play when Leamington goes to the OBA event, has brought a lot of leadership to the team that is expected to move up to senior next season. “Most of my guys are last-year juniors,” says Lamotte. It has been an extremely limited season for all teams and in some aspects of the game, it is noticeable. “It’s the pitching that I have to make sure they are ready. Batting you can do in the gym and we have been doing that for the last year-and-a-half,” says Lamotte. On Sunday, Morin worked five innings, striking out seven before giving way to Mike Wiebe who fanned a pair in the 8-7 win over Essex. Tuesday the Barons were on the road to face the Walker Homesites Juniors and Friday night will host the Harrow Seniors at 7 p.m.
1982-83 Johnston Beavers possessed powerful offense Leamington Junior Barons’ pitcher Cat Morin delivers a pitch against Essex on Sunday afternoon. The Barons won 8-7. Fred Groves photo
By C. Scott Holland Leamington’s 1982-83 Johnston Novice Beavers may not have won any
Juniors hosting OBA tournament August 6-8 LEAMINGTON — The Leamington Junior Barons will host the Ontario 22U (Junior) A champion-
ship tournament on the August 6-8 weekend here. The Barons will kick off the tournament with
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CIVIC HOLIDAY!
a game on diamond 7 against Corunna at 6:30 pm on Friday, August 6. At the same time on diamond 6, Wyoming will play St. Thomas, while Simcoe has a bye. The five-team double knockout style tournament will finish up on Sunday afternoon, when an Ontario champion will be crowned. Organizers are looking for volunteers to help with the tournament. Give Chris Lamotte a call
at 519-329-5759. The Leamington 9U Lakers will also be participating in a mini-tournament here on the same weekend, with their opponents from Chatham and Simcoe. The winner of that event will go on to play in the OBA tournament later in the month. The Lakers take the diamond Friday at 6 pm, Saturday at 10 am and 4 pm, Sunday at 10 am and 12:30 pm.
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championships during their 58 games but they certainly dominated the scoring against the opposition in many of their contest. Of the 58 games they played under the tutelage of Don Nicholson, they won 39, lost 15 and tied eight. Their offensive domination was apparent as they tabbed 266 while allowing only 127. They came close in two of the four tournaments they entered as they came away with consolation titles at Hespeler and Silver Stick play at Parkhill. In Essex County Novice League play, the Beavers amassed a record of 19 victories, one loss and two ties. Plus, in a slew of exhibition matches they won 12, lost six and tied one. Impressively the team had a 4.58 goals for average, while goalies Bran-
don Gillanders and Jeff Salive combined to carry a sparkling 2.18 goals against average. Offensively the team was led by Kevin Gale who fired 60 goals and added 60 helpers for 120 points. Two other team members posted over 90 points – Cris Thibodeau (96) and Mike Raffoul (94). With those kinds of stats, it was clear they should have won a title somehow and somewhere, but it was not to be. Members of the 1982-83 Novice Johnston Beavers were Kevin Gale, Cris Thibodeau, Mike Raffoul, Jeff Reid, Rod Wilkinson, Chris Tuquero, Cayle Driedger, Aaron Willms, Troy Zeray, Derrick Mastromatteo, Joel Dick, Kirk Jeffery, Mike Enns, Chris McKeen, Brandon Gillanders, Jeff Salive, Chris Taylor and Chris Ippoliti.
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