18U Nationals competed in the Brampton tournament, sputters at home
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
This past week, the Stratford 18U Nationals experienced highs and lows both on the field and in the weather, winning one of their three games while also suffering a defeat at a rain-shortened tournament in Brampton and Mississauga.
Stratford was scheduled to play the Kitchener-Diemert Panthers in the second of their three games in three days on May 19 in Kitchener, but inclement weather forced the cancellation of the game.
The Nationals eventually played the Hassan Panthers in Kitchener the next day on May 20, putting on an offensive downpour of their own in a 10-4 win in the final game of the Intercounty Baseball Association (ICBA) regular season before the 18U Brampton/Mississauga tournament later in the week.
Alex Everett and Dawson Davidson each led the Nationals with three RBIs, while James Robinson contributed two RBIs for the visitors. Finley Newton scored a team-high three runs during the game. Starting pitcher Owen Brooks pitched four innings of no earned runs, allowing six hits and recording one strikeout, and Caden Diehl picked up the win in relief with five innings of no earned runs and six strikeouts.
Stratford travelled to Mississauga on May 22 for a weekend tournament, facing off with the Halton Hills Eagles in the opening game.
After the Eagles opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning, the Nationals responded with three in the second and two more in the third to lead 5-2. But Halton Hills answered with five in the bottom of the third, two in the fourth and one more in the fifth before the game was officially called after five innings, with the Nationals losing 10-5.
Nationals starting pitcher Robinson pitched five innings, giving up six unearned runs on five hits, five walks and striking out three. Ethan Priestap pitched an inning in relief, giving up one run. Newton and Colin Priestap had one RBI each for Stratford, while Robinson led the team with two runs.
Like their 15U counterparts, the 18U Nationals had their tournament cancelled due to rain throughout the weekend.
The team returned home to resume their ICBA regular-season play, facing the Caledonia Bears at Stratford National Stadium on May 25.
Stratford’s shortcomings continued as they were unable to cash in runs at the key times, most notably in the third inning when they had the bases loaded with two outs before Robinson’s groundout ended the inning. Caledonia retook the lead in the following inning with three runs, including a back-breaking two-run home run.
The visitors scored another three runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach, handing the Nationals a 7-1 loss.
Ethan Priestap produced the lone RBI for the Nationals in the third inning, scoring his brother Colin.
Starting pitcher Daniel Hovius threw over three innings, giving up two earned runs on three hits, one walk and striking out three. Everett relieved in the fourth, allowing one earned run over three innings with three strikeouts. Nolan Miller then shut down the Caledonia offence, pitching three scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.
In addition to their offensive woes, the defence hasn’t provided much reliability for their pitchers as they committed eight errors in the two defeats.
Assistant coach Carter Koch says that although the team started strong in both games, in-game mental woes were the primary reason for the team’s struggles.
“We’ve been playing pretty well, especially through the first four innings of the game. Friday night, kind of the same deal happened. We just started making errors at the wrong time, booting the ball around. Pitchers are getting ground balls and weak contact, but we just can't capitalize on them. Then it just spirals from there,” Koch said.
“Tonight, they (Caledonia) threw a good pitcher. We just didn't really hit the ball, you know, can't score runs. We didn't have many base runners. We had to run on second to get picked off, just a little mental, tiny little mistakes kind of just ruin the whole game.”
For Koch, looking ahead, the focus is on maintaining focus throughout the game, supporting one another, and ensuring every player makes defensive plays. Koch also believes that if the team stays mentally engaged and performs consistently, improvements will follow.
“Just being locked into the whole game the whole time. So you just got to stay locked in the whole game, whether on the bench, got to come in after the next guy up just got to do his job, and they'll get better, but then being in the field, locked in every pitch, making sure to make plays for your pitcher, little stuff like that,” Koch said.
The Nationals will look to get back to their winning ways when they travel to Guelph for a matchup with the Royals on June 1.
Comments