The Inside Pitch Diamond
Diamond Dreams camp was a big success
By Lee-Ann Brinovec

The last two weeks were a good time to be a King Cobra.

In addition to the league games, which were played last Saturday, 77 players, parents and coaches took in the second game of the JaysMariners series at the Rogers Centre, a game which lasted 14 exciting innings before the home team pulled out a win.

Prior to that outing, many of our players had the opportunity to spend one or two weeks at the seventh annual Diamond Dreams baseball camp, held at the Nobleton complex. The camp, organized by Mike Mallory, coach at King City Secondary School, and Tom Ellison, King Township Baseball Association president, was another huge success. The chief instructors were, in addition to Mallory, two of his former high school players; Mike Cart and Chris Hanes, both of whom have gone on to a university career because of their skills. And it is these skills which the instructors hoped to pass on to the many players who attended.

The senior camp was from July 3 to 7, and produced the following award winners: Top hitter-Mateo Perone; coach's award - Steven Leonard; most improved camper - Sean Strong; best defensive player - Danton Brinovec; camp MVP-Taylor Joseph. The junior camp winners, from July 10 to 14, were: Top hitter- Patrick Price; coach's award-Nick Litow; most improved camper -Connor Johnstone; best defensive player - Travis Brinovec; and finally, camp MVP - Spenser Jones.

Junior Rookie

The TVS Development Corp team hosted Newmarket's Armitage Village Child Care at Pottageville last Tuesday.

The team put into play the base-running skills they had practised the week before. Consistency was the name of the game, with batter after batter making contact and advancing the runners around the bases. Emily Brinovec, Connor Harris, Sara Valentini, Zachary Long, Adam Cacchione and Jake Hansen had perfect plate appearances. Not to be overlooked was the long ball hitting of Michael Sala and Matthew Lancaster. Sara Valentini once again was a steady presence at third base, making several smart plays that shut down the Newmarket squad early in the game. Adam Cacchione showed his determination to help his team get into the win column with a dramatic slide into home. The strength of the team's batting is overwhelming the competition, and this comes from the motivation and skills provided by batting coach Andre Sala and his approach to developing each player's abilities.

Player of the game for TVS Development. was Adam Cacchione for his great defence and his aggressive base running.

Rookie

The Glen Hulse Plumbing team has a record of four wins five losses and two ties this season, and one of those wins came Thursday evening, as they outscored Priestly Demolition 20-15.

The offense came early and often from the bat of Connor Brunt, who hit a triple, two doubles and two singles. Myles Cook and Parker Harris were perfect at the plate with five singles respectively. Adrian Velocci's third-inning double

started a rally that saw Glen Hulse score 17 runs over the final three innings of play to earn a come from behind victory over a tough Priestly team. Not only was the team terrific at the plate, they had an outstanding effort defensively, with Connor Brunt, Matthew Ianucci and Alexander Brunato making several key plays to give their team a chance to win.

Player of the game for Glen Hulse Plumbing was Connor Brunt.

Mosquito

Rona Cashway played host to RCR Royal LePage Thursday night in a make up game from a rain-out.

RCR Royal Lepage left the diamond with their 11th win of the season, but not without a fight from Rona Cashway. The difference in the game was the pitching of the RCR Royal LePage team who shut out the opposition in 3 out of the 4 innings played. Patrick Price,

Jonathan Mele and Travis Brinovec held Rona Cashway to five runs in the game. Jessie Schneider, pitcher for Rona Cashway, made it a close game as he had four strikeouts in the two innings he was on the mound.

Peewee

File bank Records met Aurora's Goodyear in Nobleton last Tuesday night, and came away with their ninth win of the season, bringing their record to 9-41.

Filebank pitcher Stephen Leonard performed well in his first mound appearance for the King team before handing the game over to fellow pitcher Marshall Perone. Going into the bottom of the fourth inning, trailing 11-9, the Filebank offence quickly made up the difference, scoring three runs. Josh Lipscombe took to the mound in the fifth and stopped all hope the Aurora team had of making a comeback as he sent down the three batters he faced in order. The game was called for time with the King squad up by a score of 12-11. Filebank's Ryan Moore and Daniel Velocci reached base on each of their three plate appearances and Daniel Lisi, the newest addition to the Filebank team, connected for his first deep outfield hit, and reached base twice on three at bats.

The peewee 2 team, sponsored by Phil's Motors, played two games last week and won both decisively.

Last Monday they played host to Aurora's Goodyear and came away with a 14-4 victory.

The pitching of Brady Boccia and Steven LaVerde was more than the Aurora team could handle as they combined for nine strikeouts over five innings and did not allow an extra base hit.

Tuesday they traveled to Aurora to take on the Mastercut Property team.

The pitching duo of Steven and Brady once again made the difference in the game, and they were helped offensively by some timely hitting by each member of the team. Stewart Burman was three-for-four at the plate with three singles and Steven was four-for-four with a walk, a double and two singles. The final score was 14-7.

Player of the game for Phil's Motors was Steven LaVerde.

Bantam

Armstrong Petroleums split the series this week against DiSal Contracting and Design.

Last Tuesday they came up with a great effort, producing an 11-7 win over Aurora in a game that only went four innings because of the 9 p.m. start. King dominated offensively, thanks to Dean Sterman, who was a home run short of the cycle, and Mateo Perone and Dean Orr, who had two RBIs each. Ryan Forletta's pitching held the Aurora team, while the King team continued to pile up the runs.

Player of the game for Armstrong Petroleums was pitcher Ryan Forletta, who held the opposition and gave his offence a chance to build up a lead.

Thursday night's home game was an exciting sixinning contest that was much closer, but saw the home team on the wrong end of a 7-5 score.

After going down 3-0, Chris Zuzek took over pitching duties for Armstrong and certainly did his best to give his team a chance to catch up as he pitched four shut-out innings. Chris also contributed to the offence as he hit a line-drive double in the second down the third base line and went on to steal home. Adding to the offence was Mateo Perone with a single and Dean Sterman with a double. Chris Zuzek brought in a run in the sixth to tighten the score 7-5, but the King team was unable to manufacture any more runs.

Player of the game for Armstrong was Chris Zuzek, who had an outstanding match.

Sponsor of the Week

The King Township Baseball sponsor of the week is Phil's Motors, the current sponsor of the peewee 2 team. Thank you for your continued support.

Player of the Week The Shoeless Joe's Player

of the Week award goes to Connor Brunt from the Glen Hulse Plumbing rookie team. Connor was great offensively, hitting two singles, two doubles and a triple, and showed some masterful defensive skills as well. Congratulations Connor.