Association “Pitches In” for Muscular Dystrophy (2003)
The Orleans Amateur Softball Association capped off
their 32rd season as a provider of good
fun, good friends and good fastball, with a charity 3-pitch tournament. The 1st Annual “3-Pitch for MD”
tournament took place at
The 4 teams started playing on Fri night – thanks to
Frank and Paul from the city – who changed the timer on the lights. These first 2 games of the tournament
indicated that the competition was fairly evenly matched. Both games took advantage of good defensive
plays and took just about one hour to play 7 complete innings. The Ring Warriors jumped to an early lead in
the first inning and managed to hold on for the final 7-4 victory over the Old
Timers. The second game saw the Blue Barrons rally back late in the game to close the gap, and
finally to defeat team Stitch in Time by a score of 4-2.
After an evening/night of entertainment and
socialising at the Orleans Legion, a supporter of the charity event, the teams
arrived at the ball diamond on Sat morning to earn a spot in the Championship
game later that day.
During game number three, a discussion of a play at
home allowed Natalie Schami of the Blue Barrons to score a run and to tie the game in the top of
the 6th inning. The Ring
Warriors, true to their name, fought back and in the bottom of the 7th
inning, Meme Legault hit a double, to score the
winning run. The Ring Warriors recorded
their second win by a score of 4-3.
Game four saw a defensive battle between Stitch in
Time and the Old Timers. Stephane and Pierre Lalonde were
solid as they performed many double plays to prevent Stitch in Time from
scoring only 1 run in the game. Brigette Lalonde also prevented a
potential home run ball in left field, while Jen Jones was solid at short
stop. After all was said and done, the
game ended in a 1-1 tie.
All teams enjoyed a break after their first game on
Saturday and participated in the BBQ at the Orleans Legion. The kids were also entertained with volleyball, horseshoes and a speed throw in an attempt to
raise some money for Muscular Dystrophy.
The afternoon games were the crucial ones to decide
which team would go on to play the Ring Warriors in the championship game. Unfortunately, the hopes were pulled from
team Stitch in Time as they lost a close one to the Ring Warriors 4-3. The next game would decide the fate for the
Blue Barrons and the Old Timers. Pierre Lalonde was
anxious to get his team on the score board by hitting only the second home run
of the tournament. However, this drive
didn’t last for long, as the Blue Barrens scored a few each inning with key
hits by Rick Elliott, Paul Schami and Barry Beadow. Blue Barrens
won 6-2 and earned the right to take revenge on the Ring Warriors in the
championship game.
The championship game took place at 6:30pm on Saturday after a long day
of activity and fun. The Blue Barrons took charge right away and left the Ring Warriors
feeling a little blue, and in catch up mode from the first pitch. The Warriors battled back in the bottom of
the 6th inning to tie the game 3-3.
The Blue Barrens were able to capitalise at their last at bat and went
on to win the game and the tournament with a 4-3 victory.
Much applause goes out to the participants in the
tournament, the volunteer umpires (Al Penicud, Nick
Bowman, Joel Langford, and Jason Naylor) and to the fans for supporting this
worthwhile cause. The 3- pitch
tournament raised almost $400 dollars for Muscular Dystrophy.
Softball Association Continues to Support M.D. (2004)
The Orleans Amateur Softball Association capped off
their 33rd season as a provider of good fun, good friends and good fastball,
with the second annual “3-Pitch for MD” tournament.. With 4 additional teams this year, both
The 8 teams started playing on Fri night – thanks to
Lori from the Queenswood Heights Slow Pitch League
for turning on the lights. The scores of
the first 4 games of the tournament indicated that the competition was fairly
evenly matched. Not bad, considering
that some teams boasted players that had never batted or thrown a ball before
this weekend. All of the games took
advantage of good defensive plays, key hits and encouraging coaching tips -
from those players, not yet old enough to play in the tournament.
The Diamond Warriors jumped to an early lead in the
first game and managed to hold on for the final 9-8 victory over the Mamas and
the Papas who tried everything in their might (or should I say wallet) to come
from behind. Game two saw the defending
champs, the Blue Barons rally back.
Unfortunately, it was a little too late in the game to close the gap and
one of the new teams to the tournament, the Line
Drives won the game 10-7. The third game
of the evening was between two other newly formed teams; the Novice Knights and
the Squirt Squadron. Talented players on
both sides prevailed, however it was the younger Squadron that managed to fight
their way back from a 4-0 deficit to win the game 8-5. The final game of the evening proved to be a
short one, just an hour. Maybe it was
the players adjusting to the encrediballs; or maybe
it was the solid outs that were made; or perhaps it was their thirst and hunger
that prevailed. In any event, the After
8’s defeated the Lacroix Sports team, which would later
prove to be their only loss in the tournament, by a score of 4-3.
After an evening of socialising at
The Diamond Warriors kept to their warrior ways with
an error free game to win their second game of the tournament over the Blue
Barons 4-0. Bob Vaive
was sidelined on defence with an injured back but remained a trooper at the
plate by hitting a key RBI. The Line
Drives and the Mamas and the Papas played their second game against each
other. There were abundant cheers from
both sides as first time ball players hit and ran; and beat out the odds. The Line Drives plugged away each at bat and
won the game 7-4. Lacroix
Sports needed a win in their second game in order to stay in the running for
top spot. They got it by defeating the
Squirt Squadron 6-2. The After 8’s team,
not to be out done, also won an important game by rallying back in the last
inning to over take the lead from the Novice Knights, 10-4. In the next game the Squirt Squadron became
the division spoiler by defeating the 2 and 0 After 8’s team by a score of 6-2. All they could do now was to sit back and cheer,
and pay at little in hopes that the Novice Knights would upset the Lacroix Sports team.
It didn’t happen however. Lacroix Sports came out on the winning side and although
tied with Squirt Squadron and After 8’s with 2 wins and 1 loss a piece, advanced
to the championship game, because of a better run differential. Who their opponent would be was determined by
the last round robin game of the day.
Both teams, the Line Drives and the Diamond Warriors, had 2 wins to
their credit. The Diamond Warriors bats
went flat and a few early errors in the game set the stage for the Line Drives
to score some runs on some timely hits.
A desperate attempt, in the last inning, to catch up was to no avail as
the Line Drives won the game 4-3 and the rights to play in the championship
game.
The championship game took place at 6:00pm on Saturday. The Lacroix “OLD”
Sports, as Paul Martin of Martin Trophies refers to them as, took charge early
in the game by hitting two home runs. It
must have been those good bats that they sell at the store; which left the Line
Drives wishing they had a few line drives still in reserve. The final score was 8-1. The Line Drives earned a well deserved “bear
hug”, while the Lacroix Sports team won the trophy
and the bragging rights for being “simply the best” team.
Much applause goes out to the participants in the
tournament, the volunteer umpires (Greg Anderson, Nick Bowman, Jason Hunt, Joel
Langford, Jason Naylor, Katie Naylor, Kim Hand and Alaina
Pecore) and to the fans for supporting this
worthwhile cause. The 3- Pitch for MD
tournament raised over $1200 dollars for Muscular
Dystrophy.
Next year the plan is to expand and to have divisions
of like teams such that restaurants, grocery stores, speciality stores, or
sponsors get involved – either through donations or by way of challenging each
other on the diamond. Teams are made up
specifically for this weekend event.
They are not to be teams that play together on a regular basis. The aim is to have some fun and to raise
money for Muscular Dystrophy. Anyone
interested in putting together a team for the 3- Pitch for MD tournament next
year can go to the web site at www.oafa.org .
A Pitch for
Charity (2006)
Under the auspices of Huricane
Ernesto, the 4th Annual 3-Pitch for MD tournament was played on Sept
1-2 at Pierre Rocque and Carriere ball diamonds. There were 8 teams that took part in two
pools of round robin play. Teams were
again anxious to play in the charity tournament for Muscular Dystrophy and were
as always keen about hitting a few homers, eating, and socialising to help out
a good cause.
The Red pool consisted
of the Diamond Warriors, the Line Drives (both veteran teams), the Boyz 2 Men (present and past OAFA members still in their
prime) and the Du 4 Gang (a true family affair). The Blue pool
consisted of the Novice Knights (later referred to as the Novice Nightmares),
Team Fish (another young team of beer drinkers ball players), Fatasucki Surprise (known as the Dream Team until this
year), and Lacroix Source for Sports.
The scores of the first 4 games of the tournament on
Friday night indicated that the competition was fairly evenly matched. Not bad, considering that some teams boasted
players that had never batted or thrown a ball before this weekend. All of the games took advantage of some good
defensive plays, key hits and encouraging coaching tips - from those players,
not yet old enough to play in the tournament.
After an evening of socialising at
The Red pool could have gone any way. With the Line Drives and the Boyz to Men team ending their game in a tie at 6-6, this
meant that the next games had to be decided by much needed victories. The Du 4 Gang did everything in their power
to over take the Boyz to Men team, but a
controversial call was made when the batter stepped inside the running lane at
home and he was called out. Thus the Du
4 Gang was forced to settle with an 8-7 loss.
These two results took the pressure off of the Diamond Warriors team
when it came their turn to play the Line Drives. Despite losing to the Line Drives 11-10, the
DW team still advanced to the finals with 4 points (2 wins and 1 loss).
The Blue pool wasn’t quite as close as the red pool
was in terms of points. Fatasucki Surprise, a team destined to catch up with the Du
4 Gang in terms of the # of family members that are playing, ended their pool
play with 2 wins and 1 loss, while Team Fish had 1 win and 2 losses. Team Fish was depending on victories from the
Novice Knights to keep them in the running.
Hence the change in the name to the “Nightmares”. Despite great coaching tips from the novice
girls, the players just couldn’t keep up with the big hits from Fatasucki Surprise and Lacroix
Sports teams. The big hitting team this
year was Lacroix Source for Sports, with Martin
Carriere leading the team in the home run category and to a record of 3 and 0
in the round robin portion of the tournament.
Although the team seems to be getting away from their Lacroix “Old” Sports nickname and are recruiting some
younger players; it is encouraging to see them form a team of employees/spouses
in keeping with the spirit of the “fun” tournament. They too had some new players on the team
and first time ball players as well. Lacroix Source for Sports thus earned the right to play in
the Championship game.
The championship game was moved up to 4:30pm in hopes of
beating out the “Ernesto” storm that was brewing. The Lacroix
Sports team, took charge early in the game by hitting
two home runs (it must have been those good bats that they sell at the store)
which left the Diamond Warriors wishing they had a few shields still in
reserve. The final score was 10-1. The Diamond Warriors earned the well deserved
“Quest for Gold” cheer leaders for next year, while the Lacroix
Sports team won the trophy and the bragging rights for being the OAFA MD 2006
All Star team.
Much applause goes out to the participants in the
tournament, the volunteer umpires (Arnie Kaye, Rob McQuaid, Irv Vanwallegham,
Al Penicud, Nick Bowman, Brian Friesen, Katie Naylor,
and Jason Naylor) and to the fans for supporting this worthwhile cause. The 3-Pitch for MD tournament raised over $1000 dollars for Muscular Dystrophy.
Next year we hope to get back up to the 10 – 12 teams
that we have had in the past. It would
be great to expand to include divisions of like teams such that restaurants,
grocery stores, speciality stores, or sponsors can get involved – either
through donations or by way of challenging each other on the diamond. Teams are made up specifically for this
weekend event. They are not to be teams
that play together on a regular basis.
The aim is to have some fun and to raise money for Muscular
Dystrophy. Anyone interested in putting
together a team for the 3- Pitch for MD tournament next year can go to the web
site at www.oafa.org .
Helping Hands Pitch In (2007)
The Orleans Amateur Fastball Ass'n held its 5th
annual "3 Pitch for MD" charity ball tournament for Muscular Dystrophy on the Fri and
Sat of the Labour Day weekend.
The number of teams participating went up and down as
the time closed in to make up the final schedule. After congratulations and sympathies were
given to previous years’ participants and organizers, 6 teams were finally able
to settle in and take part in the tournament and no one was to be disappointed. Thanks goes out to those volunteers that were
willing and able to step up to the plate and cook, serve, ump and play in this
fun weekend of softball in hopes of raising money for MD.
The top 3 teams in the Round Robin play would move on
the semi finals and to the championship match of the day on Sat. Fatsucki Surprise
made up of mostly family members of Lise and Bernie
Beauregard finished with 3 wins and allowed only 6 runs in the 3 games – all of
these against Lacroix Source for Sports – the team
that they lost to in last year’s final game.
A new team, Koolaid Krew, was put together for this tournament in hopes of de-throwning the two time champions – Lacroix
Source for Sports team. They had a
similar schedule as the Lacroix team as they were
playing all of their round robin games on the Sat. The Koolaid Krew also finished their round robin play with 3
wins. Tied with Fatrsucki
surpised in runs for, they unfortunately allowed more
runs against and finished in second place after the round robin stats were all
in.
Finishing in third place in the Round Robin play was
none other than Lacroix Sports. This meant that a rematch would be set up
between Lacroix and Koolaid
Krew. Koolaid Krew started off the day
defeating this team 7-5 and were set to do it
again. It was another closely matched
game, one that ended with a 5-1 win for the Koolaid Krew.
The championships game was now set up between the Fatsucki Surprise and Koolaid Krew. It would
definitely be a new winner this year. It
would be the 3rd game this day for the Fatsucki
team and it would be the 5th game in the day for the Koolaid Krew. It may have been an advantage -
disadvantage that had been created.
Nonetheless, it proved to be a good game – with some strong experienced
hitting on the side of Lise and Bernie; hits that
couldn’t be matched by the younger Krew. The winners of the “3-Pitch for MD” trophy
and of the “holders”, by a 7-2 score, were the Fatsucki
Surprise team.
Great commitment was given by all and great fun and
friends continue to grow - all for a good cause.