The 13th annual Mary Tavenor Memorial Baseball Tournament saw 41 teams playing in six divisions, utilizing five fields, and playing approximately 80 games in just over two days.
About 500 baseball players and their families battled the terrible weather Friday for opening day only to see some great weather and baseball for the remainder of the weekend.
Tournament organizers scrambled all Friday and late into the night to squeeze games in between heavy rain showers and to rearrange schedules to accommodate for games lost on Friday. Only two games were lost from the schedule by the time the final out was recorded at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday night.
One of the most exciting games on Championship Sunday was the final in the U14 female division between the Grand Falls-Windsor Braves and the Corner Brook Barons, who advanced to the final with a perfect 3-0 record.
The Braves scored one in the first with Holly Russell scoring on an error after reaching base with a triple to deep right. The Barons responded with a three-run score in the bottom half of the first.
The Braves scored once more in the second and top of the third to tie the game at 3, In the Bottom of the fifth the Barons regained the lead on a one out two-run single delivered by Devin Tapp to give the Barons a 5-3 lead after four innings.
The Braves sent a statement in the top of the 5th scoring three times to take a 6-5 lead. Ana White cashed in Taylor Burton in the home half of the fifth to again tie the game at 6. Reliever Hannah Legge retired the side in order in the top of the 6th highlighted by a ground ball to Sommer Mosher at second base who tagged a runner going from first and then tossed the ball to first for the inning-ending double play. Then the dramatics every kid dreams about happened at Little Jubilee in front of the home crowd. With one out, Jill Callahan singled and then stole second base to put the go-ahead run to the plate. Tapp delivered a sharply hit ball over third base and down into the left field scoring Callahan for the championship-clinching run.
Tapp was also awarded her team’s most sportsmanlike award, finishing the game with three hits and three RBIs. Other top hitters for the Barons were Jill Callahan who had three hits and two runs, Makayla Bugden with two hits, two RBIs and a run scored, and Ana White, who collected two hits with an RBI.
Legge picked up the win in relief of Sommer Mosher going four strong innings giving up three runs, and striking out six. Mosher gave up two runs in two innings, striking out four and left the mound early after getting hit by a pitch in the arm.
Holly Russell had three hits for the Braves. Russell took the loss pitching a complete game sitting down 13 Barons batters via the third strike.
In the U12 division, the Corner Brook Barons went 4-0 in the round robin, setting up a rematch in the finals with the Bay St. George Vikings 2 team. The Barons took gold with a decisive 13-4 score.
Sarah Penney was the top hitter for the Barons with three hits in as many at-bats scoring twice, while Lauren Pike was 2-for-2 with four RBIs.
For the Vikings Raven Park and Keirs Bennett both collected three hits.
The mosquito final saw an all St. John’s matchup as the AAA Caps defeated their AA counterparts by a score of 10-6. The AAA squad defeated the Barons 7-0 in one semi while the AA squad advanced by defeating the Grand Falls-Windsor Braves.
In the U16 championship game, the St. John’s Capitals proved to be too much for the Grand Falls Windsor Braves winning by a score of 13-3. The Braves barely made it to the final, narrowly edging the Bay St. George Vikings, who they were tied with in the standings, using Baseball Newfoundland’s tiebreaking defensive runs per inning calculations.
Scoresheets were not available in the bantam or peewee divisions.
The St. Johns Capitals defeated the Corner Brook Barons 8-3 to claim gold in the bantam division.
In the peewee division, the Corner Brook Barons exacted some revenge on the St. John’s Capital squad.
After being defeated by the Caps by a close 9-8 tally on Saturday night, the Barons got a second crack at them and beat them by a score of 12-3 for gold.
The Barons advanced to the final defeating the CBS Raiders, while the Capitals defeated the Pasadena Pirates.
