With the Labour Day weekend upon us, it was time for OBA (Ontario Baseball Association) provincial championships to take center stage.

In Innisfil, the Sudbury 9U Shamrocks walked off the Halton Hills Eagles to lay claim to the DS (Dedicated Select) 9U OBA banner.

Back in the Nickel City, the Soo 15U DS Black Sox were doing the same with a 3-2 win over the Southwest London Scorpions, driving in the winning run with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Still in Sudbury, the Dresden Tigers proved to be the class of the OBA U11 “D” 11-team bracket, their pitching dominant over their final three games at the Terry Fox Sports Complex.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend of baseball.

The 9U Shamrocks entered their playdowns with a healthy dose of confidence, in part based of the a summer of positive results, in part based on the raw talent at their disposal. “This is a really strong group of young athletes,” noted head coach Toon van Lankvelt, his team posting an unblemished 6-0 mark in claiming gold.

“We recognized that pretty early on. Some have been playing baseball for a few years; some are still quite new to the sport. But as the year went on, we had some signs, we had success.”

The Shamrocks may have overwhelmed their first two opponents on Friday, but the remainder of the weekend produced some outstanding baseball, including a rare 4-2 win over Vaughan (rare at this age group) and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, a 17-15 slugfest victory over West Mountain.

Down 4-0 early in the final to the Eagles, the Sudbury lads rallied, sparked by a two-run double from Darcy Mott. With the score tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh and runners on first and second, a single up the middle by Bodhi White plated Harvey Cacciotti with the game-winning run, with not a moment of hesitation from the team staff in sending their speedster around third for a bang-bang play at the plate.

“It was a pretty cool way to finish,” said van Lankfelt.

The offensive firepower of the 9U Shamrocks was prevalent right throughout the lineup, with sluggers Kye van Lankvelt and Remi Gribbons giving way to a mid-lineup glut of kids that feature a “cool combo of kids with a lot of speed who can get on base and cause a mess”.

“But playing stronger teams at provincials, what really stood out was our defense,” said van Lankvelt. “The level of baseball was just incredible.”

Beyond a supremely athletic infield that included Kye van Lankvelt (1B), Kip Belanger (2B), Bradley Weiman (SS) and Troy Michelutti (3B) came a centerfield tandem of Darcy Mott and Ben St Jean, fully capable of throwing out a force at second with runners unable to leave their base at this age until the bat makes contact with the ball.

Rounding out the roster are Nico Renaud, Noah Trowbridge, Cohen McAvoy and Bryce Monahan, allowing the former Team Canada volleyball star and his staff (Matt Mott, Rob Cacciotti, Kevin St Jean) the chance to truly push the limits of baseball excellence at this age group.

“Kids at a young age are capable of a lot more than I think they really believe they are capable of,” said van Lankvelt. “It’s about building up their confidence in a fun, structured way so that they are not playing with the stress or weight that sport can sometimes bring. If you can provide that environment with good quality reps and young athletes who can really work together, the sky is the limit.”

Meanwhile, the 15U DS final extended through to Monday morning at Terry Fox – but it was well worth the wait. Trailing 2-0 entering the sixth inning, the Soo managed to plate one run but also stranded no less than five runners on base in the fifth and the sixth combined.

“We knew that it was coming,” said Black Sox head coach Jim Beckerson. “We had a hard time with the sticks today – but they (Southwest London) did a fantastic job of throwing strikes. We played them earlier and we also walked them off in the last inning.”

“They have a fantastic team.”

Though the first two Sault Ste Marie batters reached base on walks in B7, a force play gunned down the game-tying run at the plate – only to see the next batter draw a base on balls, deadlocking the contest at 2-2 – and setting the stage for Colton Daynard.

His line drive to right dipped just enough to fall inches in front of the hard charging London fielder, securing the 3-2 triumph and giving pitcher Max Guzzo the win on the mound.

“This is a team with great teamwork,” said Beckerson. “The team culture is fantastic. The only thing is these kids are a bit on the quiet side – but they got louder as the tournament went on. They were picking each other up.”

On Sunday, the Dresden lineup were “passing the baton”, as they say, seemingly adding runs to the scoreboard every time at bat as they stopped the Kincardine Cardinals 10-1 in the 11U "D" Division final.

“We had a really good start (to the tournament in Sudbury), had a loss the other night – but the kids kept getting better all day,” said coach Brandon Doom, his team finishing in the “C” division final four last year before stepping back one bracket this summer.

With pitchers on a strict pitch count, Doom was thankful for a stretch of outstanding work off the mound, including the complete game win in the final from starter Camden Doom. “We had three kids go six innings, so from a managing side, it was way easier. The kids bought in and were ready to go today – and it showed.”

Much like the Sudbury 9U crew, the Dresden side took a great of pride in their ability to contain the run production of their opponents. "Defense has been a number one thing for us the last five years, all the way through," said coach Doom.

"We would lose games 2-1 in 9U."

In instances where the Kincardine batsmen were making solid contact, the Tigers were quick to flash the leather, notably in right field in the final.

"I ran a few different players in right - most everyone else was pretty stationery - so those kids came through big time," said Doom. "I'm really proud of them."