Barrie and Bolton Play Well at Provincials

August 24, 2009

The Junior Ontario Baseball Championships were held over the weekend with the Barrie Red Sox 'B' and Bolton Braves teams of the North Dufferin Baseball League participating.

Barrie, who plays in the senior division of the NDBL this season, is made up of mostly junior aged players and decided to compete for the junior 'B' classification, which was held in Chatham.

With the sudden drop-out of the team from Oakville, the tournament structure was changed with the four remaining teams playing a round robin series followed by two semi-final games and then the championship game.

Barrie advanced to a semi-final game after beating Chatham 11-5, Hamilton 6-1 and Milton 8-6. They faced Milton, who at that point had only tied one game, in the semi-final, however a few Barrie errors during the game resulted in a 5-3 loss which advanced Milton to the finals. Milton and Hamilton would face off in the championship game with Milton pulling out a 7-0 victory to win the title.

In the junior 'D' classification, held in Wallaceburg, the Bolton Braves made it to the championship game and lost to the tough St. Thomas team 13-3.

In round robin play, Bolton had defeated Kincardine twice 13-6 and 12-5 and lost to St. Thomas in their third game 14-2.

Meanwhile, the senior division of the N.D.B.L. will be competing the second round this week. The series between the Creemore Braves and the Bolton 'A' Brewers ended Saturday with a Bolton winning the series 3-1.

The second series is between the Barrie Red Sox 'B' and New Lowell Knights, which took a break over the weekend due to Barrie's involvement in the Junior Provincials. The series will be completed by the end of the week, with the championship series beginning on the weekend.