King Township baseball season comes to an end
By Lee-Ann Brinovec

The 2006 baseball season has come to a close, at least on the diamonds.

The last remaining teams have finished their seasons and all went down to disappointing defeat.

The Armstrong Petroleums bantam season has come to an end. After a shaky start to the regular season, the boys came together and ended the round-robin playoffs in second place in the A division with three wins and one loss. They headed into the semi-finals with great expectations, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. The boys played their hearts out and lost in a come-frombehind victory to the Sutton Legion team 7-6 last Tuesday.

Coach Marz Perone ended the season with this message, "I would like to thank our sponsor Armstrong Petroleums, as well as all the baseball associations in our loop, for their hard work and dedication to the game. I would also like to thank my assistant coaches Ron Strong and Robert Forletta. Last of all, to all the players, parents, umpires, and associate members that step up to help our KTBA, thanks for a great bantam season, and see you next year."

The Phil's Motors sponsored peewee team also had a berth in the semifinals and faced Aurora Home Hardware last Tuesday evening. It was a close game until the bottom of the fourth. With the score tied 3-3, the wheels fell off and Aurora took advantage of errors scoring four runs and then another four in the bottom of the fifth. The Cobras' bats just couldn't connect and they lost 11-3.

It was not a very fitting conclusion to a great season that saw many players improve by leaps and bounds.

Phil's Motors played a do-or-die game in Nobleton Aug. 30 to get into the semis against the team that finished first in the regular season, the Aurora Future Stars.

The King batters started off the game with a vengeance, scoring five runs in their half of the inning. Brady Boccia on the mound held the opposition scoreless with a strikeout and some defensive help from Connor Casciato and Stewart Burman. It was an extremely close game that saw great pitching from both teams and stellar plays on the field.

Heading into the fourth inning, the home team was down by a run, with two out when some clutch hitting came from the bats of Kayla White with a double and an RBI single from Luke Robertson to tie the game. Aurora scored a single run in the top of the fifth and once again the home team came to the plate playing catch-up. Steven LaVerde hit a monster triple, stole home, and the game was tied once again.

A tie would not help the team, which needed a win to advance. Steven held Aurora scoreless with one strikeout, a throw to Danton on first from Stewart on a dropped third strike and a great play by Stewart on tossing a passed ball to Steven and getting out the runner trying to steal home. It was the quickest inning I have ever seen played, all in order to allow the Phil's Motors' team a chance to get to bat before time was called.

Connor Casciato started off the inning with a single, stole second to get into scoring position and was brought home on a double by Matthew Maloney. Phil's Motors won by a final score of 10-9.

It was an exciting finish to a very good game. All the players on the Phil's Motors team stepped up their game, including Steven LaVerde, who was outstanding on the mound and was three-forthree at the plate with two singles and a triple, Brady Boccia with a triple and three RBIs, Kayla White with a single and a double. Player of the game for the Phil's Motors team was Luke Robertson, who came through with and RBI in the fourth to keep the game close.

Thank-you to Coaches Bart Burman and Joe Robertson for your commitment to helping these young players have a successful season.

The final team in the semi-finals playing last Tuesday was Filebank Records, who finished the round-robin playoffs with a record of three wins and one loss. They faced Bradford Centre Ice in Aurora for a chance to head to the finals. It was a close contest, but they could not pull off the upset against a very good Bradford team and lost by a score of 12-9. Congratulations to coach Steve Lipscombe and his team on a very good season.

The season for the CDC Insurance peewee select team has also come to an end.

They played a three-game series against Markham to determine who would advance to the Provincial Championships. The King Cobras put up a great fight but unfortunately fell short in their bid to move on.

They took one of the three games by a score of 12-2, lost the second game soundly and came to Nobleton to play the final game Aug. 27.

During the first three innings of the final game it was a pitcher's duel. Josh Lipscombe held the opposition to two runs in the three innings he was on the mound, while the Cobra's hitters were unable to gain traction until the top of the third, when Brady Boccia reached first base on a walk and was advanced to second on a base hit from Patrick Price. With two men on base and none out, the Cobras looked to strike for some much needed runs. But the next three batters went down on two strikeouts and a popfly. The King team returned to the field still trailing 2-0.

Ryan Forletta took the mound in the bottom of the fourth and immediately ran into difficulty. By the time he had righted himself, the Markham squad had scored four more runs. The Cobras made it onto the score sheet in the top of the fifth with a single run on base hits by Ryan Moore and Marshall Perone. Forletta took to the mound once again in the fifth and fared much better, holding the Markham team scoreless.

They were not held scoreless for long as they saw two more runs cross the plate in the sixth.

The seventh inning opened for the CDC Insurance team facing and formidable deficit, trailing 8-2. Their entire season hinged on their last chance at the plate. Lead-off hitter

Travis Brinovec walked to first and was brought home on a one-out single by Steven LaVerde for the first run of the inning. Josh Lipscombe's attempt to catch the Markham team napping by bunting, succeeded in sending LaVerde across the plate, but pushed the team one step closer to elimination as Josh was unable to beat out the throw to first base. With two out, Ryan Forletta reached first on a single and was brought home by a thoroughly smashed triple from the bat of Daniel Lisi, who in turn managed to beat out a run down between third and home to score the Cobra's sixth and final run of the game.

The peewee selects' season ended with an 8-6 loss, after an exciting lastinning, four-run rally.

The weekend series saw some great individual performances from the King players; Ryan Moore achieved first base on seven out of the eight trips he made to the plate, Steven LaVerde was six-for-eight, and Ryan Forletta and Daniel Lisi each managed .500 on-base percentages. Josh Lipscombe pitched six fine innings over two games, allowing only three runs against some very skilled Markham hitters. Apart from the third and final game's fateful and heartbreaking fourth inning, Ryan Forletta turned in an impressive pitching performance, making appearances in all three games.

The CDC Insurance King Cobras had a great season after getting off to a slow start.

When the team was first established, there did not seem to be much of an interest, hence the addition of two mosquito-aged players, Patrick Price and Travis Brinovec, who held their own playing with and against players two years older. Two players, Daniel Lisi and Danton Brinovec, were new to baseball and had impressive seasons in their own right.

The start of the year was less than memorable; facing two devastating losses in Midland to start the season, squandering a lead to lose to Barrie, they lost a close game to Aurora and from that point on their outlook changed. They seemed to gel as a team and never looked back. They scored their first regular season victory against Barrie in Nobleton, split a double header at home with Collingwood, tied and defeated first place Whitby in an exhibition double header, and bested Aurora in their last regular season game. The Cobras then eliminated Aurora from contention in a sudden-death victory at home. They also took away one very convincing win in their series with Markham.

Including two exhibition games against Aurora, which resulted in a win and a tie, the King team ended the season with a record of seven wins two ties and seven losses. It was a great season and it is safe to say that every player on the team had fun while enjoying the sportsmanship that comes from playing with and against some very skilled baseball players.

Players of the Week

The Shoeless Joe's Player of the week award goes to Steven LaVerde from the Phil's Motors peewee team.

In a must-win game against Aurora, Steven showed why he was given the team's MVP award this season. He pitched three outstanding innings with six strikeouts, allowing only one run, and that was a force at the plate. What did not show up on the score sheet was his leadership as he encouraged his teammates to give all they had to win this important game. He led his team by example, and for this he is most deserving of the Player of the Week award.

Our final Shoeless Joe's Player of the Week award for the 2006 season goes to Brady Boccia from the Phil's Motors Peewee team. Brady was a major reason that his team advanced to the semi-finals, as he was outstanding on the mound and at the plate in the final round-robin playoff game. In the semi-final game he held the opposition in check

with some great pitching, giving his team a chance to stay in the game.

The AGM meeting was held Sept. 8 at Shoeless Joe's. There will be some significant changes in the make up of the association in the 2007 season. Tom Ellison has stepped down as president and has handed over the reins to a very capable David Long, who brings some exciting ideas on how to build on the success that Tom has had in leading the KTBA.

Claire Schnieder has resigned as secretary and the association is in the process of filling this position. Jock MacLaughlan is the new member in charge of sponsorship. Lee-Ann Brinovec remains the publicity liaison, and Susan LaVerde is the new entertainment and events planner. Michele Perone will continue as the registrar and Marz Perone is taking over the job of equipment manager from Tom. There are still some positions yet to be filled and if you are interested on being a member of the executive please contact David Long.

Rep tryouts

tonight

Next season KTBA will be fielding a minor bantam Rep team. Tryouts are open to all players born in 1993 and will take place tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow from 7 to 8:30 p.m. If you are interested in being part of this team, and wish to play a higher caliber of baseball next season, come and join Manager Tom Ellison and his coaching staff on the diamond in Nobleton.

The next meeting of the KTBA will be October 12th at Shoeless Joe's.