Kids beat their moms in close contest
By Lee-Ann Brinovec

You know the baseball season is drawing to a close when the annual Moms versus Kids senior rookie game takes place, and this year is was a fierce match up between TVS Developments Corp.'s players and their moms.

The game took place at Pottageville Park and the Moms were hoping to finally record a win this year. Elena Cacchione was the lead-off batter for the Moms, and she turned out to be quite effective, as the Kids worked hard to hold her impressive hits to singles. Meche Long was second in the order and although she had an impressive swing, sadly she was only one-for-three on the night. It seems the players enjoyed getting her out at first after she has spent the season coaching them as the "bench boss" and chief scorekeeper. Lori Valentini was clearly the ringer for the Moms, and proved her days in competitive baseball were well spent as she sent hit after hit sailing over the heads of the outfielders. When she took her defensive position in the outfield, she tracked down every fly ball, including one from the bat of Zachary Long that had "home run" written all over it. Mona Lancaster had a perfect night at the plate going an impressive three-for-three and guarding second base with passion. Linda Pignataro had a determined spirit and did admirably at the plate, and then made several key outs at first base, all with a smile.

The Kids started off strong, taking the early lead, but they became a little overconfident and this allowed the Moms to take advantage and jump out to the lead. As the game entered the final inning, the Kids showed heads-up base running and teamwork, as Sara Valentini stole home from third base as Adam Cacchione distracted the infielders with some fancy footwork at second. Sara's run turned out to be the winner as the Kids beat their Moms by a 7-6 score.

It appeared that all had fun, and the eight and nineyear olds showed their moms the baseball skills they have acquired this season. Player of the game honours went to the Valentini Family, Lori for the Moms and Sara for the Kids.

We would like to wish our Phil's Motors bantam house league team the best of luck as they head into the semi-finals and most probably the finals this week. They finished round- robin play with an impressive 4-1 record under the guidance of coaches Marz Perone and Ron Strong, and were to play a semi final game Tuesday. The championship game will be played Sept. 8 at the Optimist Park in Aurora. Game time is at 7:30 p.m. Come out and support our bantam team, and for all of the peewee players who will be moving up to the bantam age group next year, it will give you and opportunity to see what you will be facing.

Player of the Week The King Township Baseball Association Player of the Week for Aug. 22 was Mark Lago from the Schomberg IGA junior rookie team. Mark played an important role for his team in helping them get to the Championship game against Summers & Smith from Aurora. Mark's team came out on the wrong end of a close 25-24 loss. Congratulations on a wonderful season Mark, and hope to see you back on the diamonds in King next season.

The Player of the Week for Aug. 29 was Sean Strong from the Phil's Motor bantam team. This team has had a great season, and they are not done yet, heading into the semi-finals this week in Aurora. Sean is one of the veteran players on this team and has been a player that his coaches can count on to be a leader in every game. Congratulations Sean.

Just a reminder that the KTBA Annual General Meeting will take place Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at Shoeless Joes in King City.