Coach Ryan Rai is pretty proud of his Lake Cowichan Mosquito team, the Grey Hawks. This past weekend, the team played four games in a tournament, and though they did not win every game, Rai says that his team had a blast.
“This is the best ball we have played all year,” he says. “If we keep this up, we will go a long way in the playoffs.”
All team members had great sportsmanship, and the kids never stopped smiling.
The first game was against the Ladysmith Diamond Backs. This was a close win, with a score of 9-8. Rai says this, and the other three games, all came down to the very last out. Nick Hill “caught a fly ball and was awesome in pitching,” says Rai. Kendall Bergstrom also had some fantastic pitching, and Hill was named MVP for that game.
Saturday morning, the Hawks played their second game which was against the Duncan Pirates, and though the team had a 9-7 loss to the pirates (this was the first loss of the season for the Hawks), Nick Hill and Amber Eddy did some great pitching, and Eddy was named MVP for that game.
In the third game, which took place Saturday afternoon, the Hawks played against the over confident Nanaimo Athletics. Despite taking verbal blows against their female players, the Hawks managed to walk away with a win.
Eddy managed to strike out a couple of the Athletics players and Hill and Mackenzie Peters scored two runs. Josh Hill hit a walk-off home run. Noah Murdoch had a couple of big hits, and was named MVP for the game.
The final game was played against the Salt Spring Blue Jays. Though the Hawks lost this game with a score of 9-8, they managed to bring themselves back from being four runs behind due to another two out rally.
Bergstrom, Eddy, Nick Hill, and Josh Hill all had big hits, and Murdoch hit a massive home run. Bergstrom was named MVP for this game.
The coaches award at the end of the tournament went to Josh Hill. This award is given to an All Star player who has not been named MVP during the season.
Rai says that the hardest part of the tournament, for him, was making sure that the pitchers did not go over their pitch count. “I was missing two pitchers,” he says. “So I only had seven to work with.
During the tournament, Joey Janzen and Jake Walters both had solid pitching, and Shaylyn Jones had a big hit.
The Lake Cowichan Peewee All Star team played their last game of the regular season on Tuesday, May 29, and they also did well.
Coach Micah Anderson says they won with a score of 10-5. “We finished off the regular season with eight wins and five losses and one tie giving us 17 points putting us in third place for the playoffs.
Playoffs begin on June 6 for the 11 team Peewee league, and Anderson says “there still may be some movement in the standings because all league games have not been played yet.