Diamonds Win Provincials on Home Soil
Chatham Diamonds Major Mosquito OBA Champions 2012 – Submitted Photo
In their opening game against Stratford, Chatham sent a message to the rest of the field crushing their opponents 25-2. Craig Spence had a great game at the plate with two singles and a double, which resulted in three runs for Spence, and four RBIs.
Game two of the tournament, Chatham faced a tougher St. Thomas team, but used their team defence to hold St. Thomas’ offence at bay, winning the game 3-0. Anderson Fenton pitched three and two thirds innings allowing only one hit and striking out five, before Garret Day came in to close out the game, striking out four and allowing only two hits in three and a third innings.
After defeating Simcoe 9-5 in the next round of the tournament, Chatham advanced to the final four as the only undefeated team.
Losing 10-2 to Woodstock in round five, the Chatham Diamonds faced a do or die situation, facing the same Woodstock team in round six of the OBA tournament. This time however, Chatham’s bats would come out hot, leading the team to a 16-2 win. Sam Haight led the way for Chatham with two singles and a double. Haight scored twice himself and batted in five.
In the final, Chatham faced Cobourg, in search of a repeat OBA title for 10 of the 12 players on the roster. After falling behind 4-1 after three innings, Chatham fought back and brought home the OBA crown with a 9-6 win. Grayson Ladd, Alex Vanderkaden, Darian Steele, and Brendan Hunter each had hits in the win.
Pictured above: Front row (l to r): Nolan Lucier, Brendan Hunter, Grayson Ladd, Anderson Fenton, Malcolm Campbell, Austin Haddock. Back row (l to r): Coach Jason Hunter, Coach Shawn Fenton, Garret Day, Darian Steele, Alex Vanderkaden, Evan Rae, Craig Spence, Sam Haight, Coach JP Lucier & Head Coach Ron Day