Royal LePage The Inside Pitch
Royal LePage Mosquitos Are Stung in Intact Finals
By Lee-Ann Brinovec

Royal LePage Mosquitos were Intact finalists over the weekend. They lost the Championship game to Burlington.

Three of our house league teams proudly carried the KTBA banner into the provincial house league Intact playoffs last weekend and the team with the biggest smiles by Sunday was our Royal LePage Mosquitos. Coached by Dan Price, Dan Brinovec and Curtis Joseph the King Cobras went head to head against some of the best teams in Ontario. Last Friday against the Mississauga Majors, King won 9-5 on a key double by J.P Capella, and a home run and triple by Patrick Price. Jonathan Mele and Patrick shared the mound duties and recorded 10 strikeouts between them. Saturday against Martingrove saw the Cobras lose a close 17-16 game with Andrew Cipolone going three for four with two doubles and a single, J.P Capella cashing twin doubles and a single as well. Saturday's next game was a 9-8 win over the Richmond Hill Athletics. Travis Brinovec was three for three at the plate with a home run, a double and a single. David Granton hit a double and Tristan Joseph had two twobaggers. In the semi final on Sunday against South London, a team which had not lost a game all season, the Cobras recorded the upset of the tournament with a huge 16-12 victory. London took an early 7-4 lead but the pitching of Giancarlo Povegliano, who struck out five of the six batters that he faced, and the monstrous grand slam by Patrick Price in the 6th inning that really took the steam right out of the opposition and King emerged victorious, setting up an exciting final against the Burlington Athletics. Alas, the Cobras lost a tough 11-8 game that could have gone either way. J.P Capella was awarded the Most Sportsmanlike Award for the tournament but all of the players are to be commended for giving it their very best and showing the best of King Township baseball.

The King Township Baseball Association peewee select team, sponsored by CDC Insurance Services Ltd., needed some last-inning heroics to post a 6-5 playoff win over their foes from Aurora Thursday night. Josh Lipscombe was the starting pitcher, and he didn't allow a run in the three innings he worked.

Unfortunately, both the FileBank and Phil's Motors Peewee teams did not fare as well. Results were not available at press time.

Meanwhile, King's Peewee Select team, sponsored by CDC Insurance Service Ltd., seems to be a breeding ground for baseball heroes. On Thursday night in Nobleton, the Selects faced the Aurora Jays in a do-ordie elimination playoff at the Nobleton field, and took the win with a score of 6-5 to advance to the next stage in their quest for one of two berths at the SOBA Provincial Championships on Labour Day Weekend. The first hero was Josh

Lipscombe, the Cobras' starter, who hurled three scoreless innings and went four-for-four at the plate. Lipscombe pitched two three-up, three-down innings, allowed no hits, two walks, and achieved nine strikeouts. Closer Steven LaVerde earned his place in the pantheon with a sterling pitching performance in the seventh inning, completely frustrating the Aurora offence, connected for three base hits on four trips to the plate, and came home to score the Cobras' winning run at the bottom of the seventh inning. King's Ryan Moore stroked three base hits in as many at-bats, and showed great hustle and determination on the base paths. But the game's ultimate hero was Patrick Price, who came to the plate with two out and bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning after the Aurora team elected to intentionally walk Ryan Forletta, and smashed a ball into the outfield to cash the winning run for King. Over seven complete innings of play, King sluggers smashed out sixteen base hits to Aurora's four and put the game out of reach to end Aurora's season.........

In Mosquito house league playoff action last Wednesday, Rona Cashway defeated the Rotary Club of Aurora by a score of 10-7 after losing the previous two encounters during the season. Starter Andreas Kentris held Aurora to only two runs and his aggressive base running and the powerful batting of Zachary Schofield and Jesse Schneider, game MVP, led King to its victory. Will Maclachain was also effective on the mound and he received great defensive support from Kamren Wallbank and Mathew Ardizzi for the win.

The play-offs resumed for our young Jr Rookie division this past week. and the TVS Development Corp team came out all pumped up and ready to display their skills. Their first game was hosting the Newmarket Colonial Chev-Olds team at Pottageville, and what a game it turned out to be. Zachary Long was a vacuum on the right-side of the diamond, Adam Cipollone was an incredibly defensive pitcher, stopping everything that went up the middle, Sara Valentini guarded third base and let nothing by her. Our bats were alive too, with Adam Cacchione, Sara Valentini, Rose Falzone, and Emily Brinovec each getting doubles, Luke Joseph a triple, and Zachary Long pounded out another homerun sending the Colonial Chev-Olds team home with a devastating loss.

We then travelled to Newmarket as guests of the Armitage team. Jake Hansen settled in the catching position, and did a spectacular job, Rose Falzone took her favourite position as shortstop, and as usual she let nothing by her, while Matthew Lancaster and Adam Cipollone rounded out this hot infield on the pitching mound and second base respectively. Our batters enjoyed success, with Rose Falzone, Adam Cipollone and Sara Valentini getting doubles, and Zachary Long getting another two homeruns. Although the score seesawed back and forth throughout the game, it ended with Armitage on top, and sending the TVS team into their third and final game of the play-offs with a 1 -1 record. This final match-up was also held on Saturday against the Newmarket Clearmeadow team The Cobras got off to the strong start and never looked back. Emily Brinovec has turned into being quite a utility player, performing remarkably well at both first base and right-field, while Sara Valentini had the Newmarket team moving their fielders back for each of her plate appearances. Other early contributors to our score board were Adam Cipollone and Connor Harris, as each punched out clean stand-up doubles, but then later Connor really found his stride and bashed a magnificent triple that had the crowd cheering. Zachary Long took his responsibility at the clean-up position seriously and again got two home-runs, one a grand-slam. Defensively, Adam Cacchione at first base, and then later at short-stop, was solid throughout the game. The Cobras wrapped-up the play-offs with a solid 2 -1 record, which tied them with another team for entry into the semi-final round, but sadly the decision of which team advanced was based upon a runs-for/against statistic, and King fell just short of the mark. A special thanks to Taylor Joseph, Danton Brinovec and Steve LaVerde from our Phil's Motors Pee-Wee team who came-out to coach the bases for this Jr Rookie game. They proved to be great mentors to these younger players. The team should be extremely proud of their accomplishment this season, with each player improving remarkably of the summer, and they generated a reputation as being the front-runners within our interlock league. The 3rd annual "Jr Rookies versus the Mom's" event is scheduled for tomorrow night and promises to be a bitter match-up. The 13th Shoeless Joe's Player of the Week for 2006 goes to Zachary Long of the TVS Development Corp. Junior Rookie team. This young man is quickly becoming someone whom his coaches can depend upon in crucial situations. Congratulations Zachary.

The KTBA tips its cap to the sponsor of the week, Schomberg IGA for their continuing support of baseball in the township.