PeeWee Jays heading to OBA finals

August 27, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The Aurora PeeWee Jays are York-Simcoe Baseball Association (YSBA) champions for the second year in a row.

Aurora’s season ended with three games against Barrie, who had won one game all year. After winning the first game at home, the Jays dropped a doubleheader in Barrie, giving up a quality chance to improve their record before the postseason.

The Jays finished the season at 7-13-1, landing in fifth spot heading into the YSBA Championship.

The YSBA Finals then kicked off last Friday night, set as a double-elimination tournament between Stouffville, Thornhill, Barrie and Aurora. With their poor end to the season still in mind, the Jays squad faced off against Barrie for the third game in a row.

Barrie would take the first game of the championships 1 – 0, off a passed ball in the sixth inning.

Now down to a single-elimination standpoint, the Jays were in hot water facing Stouffville Saturday morning. However, they turned their luck around, mercying Stouffville to improve their tournament record to 1 – 1.

Retribution was all the Jays wanted on Sunday, knocking out Barrie after playing them five of the last six games. They would then need two wins in a row in a doubleheader against Thornhill, who earned a bye to the finals.

After the climactic buildup to the finals, the championship was anything but close, as the Jays won the first game handily, 8 – 4, followed by a 23 – 5 mercy in the second.

The Jays bats exploded at just the right time.

“We went through the batting order in the second last inning almost twice,” said coach Mark Elbaum. “The boys really just started hitting.”
The Jays now head to the Ontario Baseball Association (OBA) tournament on Friday, representing the YSBA. They kick off against Oshawa, the team that knocked them out of the first round of the CNE PeeWee Baseball Tournament two weeks ago.

“They’re probably coming in thinking that Aurora’s not a very strong team,” said Elbaum. “But they haven’t seen our best yet. I think they’ll be surprised.”

Aurora lost in the OBA finals last year to Cobourg, who also knocked them out the previous year.

Elbaum suspects the two teams may meet again in this year’s tournament.

“They’re in a loop above us, so they’ve had our number now for a couple years. But we’re hoping to get some revenge.”

Information on the OBA tournament can be found at www.baseballontario.com.