The four-day tournament that took almost two weeks to play is finally over.
The Conception Bay Central Junior Canadians are 2018 Swing Into Summer Champions after defeating the Chayee Bourras NL Selects 10-3 in the final of the 21st annual intermediate softball event Wednesday night at Lions Park in St. John’s.
The tourney began June 22 and was supposed to have lasted four days, but weather-related postponements kept extending things.
The Junior Canadians took the long road to the championship playing six games in all, two more than any other team in the double knockout event.
That included a 9-4 win over defending champion Lafontaine Club of Placentia in a Wednesday-evening semifinal.
That game left straight into the final, where D.J. Lake drove in three runs, two of the RBIs coming on a homer, as C.B.C. posted a five-inning, mercy rule-shortened win.
Liam Costello scored twice and had two RBIs for the winners, while Gerald Wall and tourney top batter Peter Kavanagh (.556 batting average) each had two hits.
Eric Healey (8H, 0W, 7K) pitched the win, contributing to a tournament performance (5-1 record, 2.72 ERA, 60K in 36 innings) that led to his being named MVP.
Ryan Maher and Liam Shea each had three hits for the Selects. Marcus Pittman, who drove in two runs, took the pitching loss.
Members of the winning C.B.C. team include Daniel Byrne, Liam Costello, Justin Doyle, Coady Furey, Eric Healey, Peter Kavanagh, Riley Kenny, DJ Lake, Brady Lewis, Patrick O'Leary, Jordan Penney, Conor Ryan, Gerald Wall, Jeremy Walsh And coach Kyle Ezekiel.
