Over the September 2 – 4 Labour Day weekend, the Soo 9U Black Sox headed to West Hill in the eastern end of Toronto, Ontario to take part in the 2022 9U Ontario Baseball Provincial Championships.
The Black Sox opened the 2022 OBA Provincial championships on Friday September 2nd in a 6:00 p.m contest against the North York Blues. In their opening game, the Soo shut out the Blues 13 – 0 to open the 2022 championships.
Coach Jordan Tibbles told Saultsports that “we went into this tournament knowing that we had to prove themselves and had practiced hard for this moment. It was a strong first game with the Sox getting three immediate outs against North York in the first two innings. We mercied North York to win the game in the sixth inning.”
Game two hit the diamond on September 3rd in a 12:30 p.m start against the London DKMB Rivercats. In only five innings, the Black Sox had another strong game with a 18 – 7 win over the Rivercats to set up their third matchup for a 10:00 a.m September 4th meeting against Leaside. The Soo earned their second shut out of the championships with a 7 – 0 win over Leaside.
“Going into this we knew they had a challenging game ahead. Leaside went 24-0 in their regular season. After a hard seven inning battle the Black Sox held Leaside to their first scoreless game of the season. The Black Sox didn’t allow a single Leaside runner past second base,” added Tibbles.
At 12:30 p.m in the 2022 OBA Provincial Championship semi-final against the Thornhill Reds, the Black Sox held on to edge the Reds 3 – 2 to advance to the final at 3:30 p.m on Sunday afternoon in West Hill.
Coach Tibbles said, “there was a bit of a rivalry going into this game as Thornhill beat the Black Sox in a Muskoka tournament in July, eliminating them from the tournament. In addition to this the Black Sox lost the coin toss therefore giving Thornhill last bats. Both teams battled hard Saturday afternoon with the Black Sox narrowly beating the Reds, eliminating them from the Provincial Tournament.”
With a rematch from Sunday morning against Leaside, the Soo hit the diamond for their chance to win the 2022 Provincial Championships Sunday afternoon. With a coin toss to begin the game for the chance to be the home team in the final, the Black Sox started the championships as the visitors in West Hill. The Black Sox battle went back and forth with lead changes multiple times for both teams. In the sixth inning, the Soo scored two runs with a two run double by the youngest player of the team, Thomas Hirvi who started the 2022 season a six year old gave the Black Sox the lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the Black Sox held Leaside three up, three down to lock in the victory.
Tibbles said that “as the final throw was made to first base to solidify the Sox’s championship title tears were running down players faces as the ball went through the air. The moment the ball was caught gloves flew as the crowd erupted in cheers. Emotions were high as the kids, coaches, family and friends celebrated their Provincial Championship win!”
Along with the championship trophy, medals and banner the following players and awards were handed out:
Defensive Player of the Tournament – Jay Reid
Offensive Player of the tournament – Kohen Nasby
This OBA Provincial Championship is the first ever for the Black Sox 9U age group.
Players
#2 Oliver Tibbles
#4 Evan Hirvi
#6 Jason DiAngelo
#7 Jay Reid
#8 Tomas Peltonen – Boisvert
#9 Elijah Day
#11 Kohen Nasby
#13 Luca Chartrand
#16 Cooper Cripps
#17 Jax Palahnuk
#27 Thomas Hirvi
#99 Brayden Morley
Coaches
Jordan Tibbles
Kirk Reid
Brad Chartrand
Bret Nasby
Ryan Palahnuk
Manager
Lauren Nasby
