Stratford Wins Bronze

Stratford Memorial Midgets claimed the bronzed medal Sunday morning in St. Gervais Quebec at the Eastern Canadian Fastball Championships.

Playing against Nova Scotia, Stratford lost 5 -1. Pitcher Travis Jones struck out 7, walked only two batters and surrendered 8 hits. At the plate Jones, and Ben Hienbuch had two singles. Jon Woodend and Jon Hood both singled for the Stratford.

Travis Jones was presented a special Sportmanship Award at the tournament. After winning the Home Run Contest on Friday Jones donated the prize, a new bat to a local boy, who was surprised by the gesture. Jones also was second for the Pitcher of the Tournament and also Best Batter award.

Stratford Loses First Play-off Game

In a repeat of the mornings game Stratford Memorial Midgets faced the host Quebec Team, Cote Inox losing by a score of 7 - 0.

Stratford bats that pounded out 12 hits earlier in the day were silent as they managed only 4 hits, singles by Mark Verkley, Travis Jones, Kirk Brown, and a double by Evan Kerekes. As the bats remained quite there defence was plagued by errors that allowed the Quebec runs. Losing pitcher Travis Jones surrender only 5 hits, walked 2 and struck out 7.

Stratford plays Nova Scotia in the semi-final game at 9:00am Sunday morning to see who advances to the Gold medal game. The loser of the game will receive the bronze medal.

Stratford Loses to Nova Scotia

In the las game of the round robin portion of the Eastern Canadian Fastball Championship Stratford Memorials Midgets were defeat by Team Nova Scotia 7 - 0.

Losing pitcher Matt Walsh gave up 7 hits and only one walk. Stratford bats which wnet cold as Scott Gibson had there sole single.

Stratford Defeats Quebec 1 Team

With game temperature at 12 Celsius the Stratford Memorials Midget kept themselves warm by pounding out 12 hits as they defeated Quebec 7 - 4 in round robin play at the Eastern Canadian Fastball Championships in St. Gervais Quebec.

Winning pitcher Travis Jones struck out 8 and allowed no walks. Memorials offence pounded out 12 hits with doubles by Ben Hienbuch, and 2 by Kirk Brown. Jones, Mark Verkley, Matt Walsh, Tim Ruston, Evan Kerekes, and Trent Hooey all contributed singles.

Stratford remains undefeated and is guarantee to finish first in the round robin play. They have one remaining game against Nova Scotia before the play offs begin.

Stratford Defeats New Brunswick

In Eastern Canadian Fastball Championships in St. Gervais Quebec, Stratford Memorials Midgets defeated New Brunswick 14 - 5 in round robin play, Stratford's second game of the day.

Winning pitcher Mark Verkley struck out 9, while allowing 7 hits and 3 walks. Travis Jones, who earlier in the day won the tournament Home Run contest, lead the offense with 2 homeruns and 2 singles. Jon Woodend had 2singles, Mitch Finck and Jon Hood also singled.

On Saturday Stratford, the only remaining undefeated team, will play Quebec 1 and Nova Scotia with play-off games starting late in the day.

Stratford Memorials go 2 - 0

A 7th inning triple by Evan Kerekes help propel the Stratford Memorials Midgets to a 4 -3 victory over Kitchener/Waterloo this morning at the Eastern Canadian Fastball Champions in St. Gervais Quebec.

Travis Jones picked up the win with 10 strike outs, giving up 6 hits and no walks. Jones aided his own offence with a double and single. Mark Verkley added a single and a sac fly to score the tying run in the 5th innning. After Kerekes lead off the bottom of the 7th with a triple K/W walked the next two batters to load the bases. Ben Hienbuck worked the pitcher for a walk forcing in the winning run.

Stratford's next game is at 8PM Friday night.

Stratford Opens Tourney on Winning Note

Stratford Memorials Midget defeated the Quebec 2 team, 4 -1 in their opening game at the Eastern Canadian Fastball Championship in St, Gervais Quebec. Winning Pitcher Matt Walsh gave up 5 hits over 7 innings, while striking out 8 and walking only 1 batter.

The Memorials offence struck for 10 hits scattered over the 7 innings. Tim Ruston and Mark Verkley both tripled, while Walsh helped his own cause with two singles. Jon Hood and Cody Bromley and Travis Jones all added doubles while Jon Woodend singled.

Saturdays schedule see Stratford face Kitchener/Waterloo at 9am and New Brunswick at 8PM.

An interesting side note is the ball diamonds in Quebec have no grass on the outfield like most diamonds. The outfields are covered in stone dust the same as the infields making the outfield play differently than usual.

Eastern Canadian Championships Game Schedule

Thursday
8 PM - Stratford (Ontario 1) vs Quebec 2

Friday
9 AM - Stratford (Ontario 1) vs KW (Ontario 2)

8 PM - Stratford (Ontario 1) vs Anchors NB

Saturday
12 PM - Stratford (Ontario 1) vs Cote Inox (Quebec 1 Host)

6 PM - Stratford (Ontario 1) vs East Hants NS

Play offs begin at 8PM on Saturday. More details will follow.

Final update - weather

The forecast for our games are very cool, the current forecast has game time temperatures between 14 & 18 deg bring warm shirts for under jerseys.

Have a safe trip see you soon!!!!!!!

More Quebec Info

To get to the hotel take Exit 325-S off Hwy 20. Get to the far left hand lane as you turn on to President Kennedy Street and turnv left at first light. You will see the hotel as you come up the ramp. For the the mothers and sisters there is a ton of good shopping close by.

I went and looked at the diamonds and are we in for an experience. There is no grass anywhere. The St. Gervais diamond is a kind of sand/clay mix, with the outfield being stone dust like the old fairgrounds infield. Seriously outfielders if you have knee pads bring them. The other diamond is all stonedust.

The good news is the short fences 215 down the line 245 to center. Mark you will have fun.

Travel Advisory

Be careful when you get to Quebec and the Montreal area. Lots of construction and TONS of police.

Also I had an interesting email from the tourney committe. Aparrently outfields in Quebec do not have grass. I'll check tomorrow when I go to the park to check it out.

Drive safe see everyone Wednesday.

Playoff Games - Revised

Our next 2 playoff games against KW are scheduled for Tuesday Sept 1st & Thursday Sept 3rd in Waterloo - game time 8 pm.

Important Quebec Info - Update Friday

We have raised enough money that we will be paying for all hotel rooms from Wednesday through and including Sunday night. If you are coming sooner or staying later the extra nights will be your responsibility.

The schedule for the tournament has been posted at this link; http://www.easterncanadian.com/cedule.php?cat=9. It has changed from yesterday. So rather than constantly updating as they make changes just follow the link. I am going to try and find some practice space while we are there, hopefully Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

REMEMBER NO METAL CLEATS ALLOWED!!!

During the tourney I will be updating the website with our games reports so let your family know they can track our progress on this site.

Please remember to bring your entire uniform, shirts, pants, belts, hats, sock etc we won't have extras to loan out. I'll be bringing the new jerseys with me.

We will be leaving on Sunday for Quebec. If you need to reach me the best way will be email (jwoodend@sympatico.ca) or if it really important call me 519-949-0327.

Hotel Info:

Comfort Inn Lévis
10 Du Vallon E.Levis,
Quebec, Canada
G6V 9J3
Tel: (418) 835-5605
Fax: (418) 835-9054

Tuesday Aug 18th Game

Game 1 against KW @ 8:30 pm in Stratford, be at diamonds for 7:45 pm.

KW would like to do the second game late Saturday afternoon about 4PM. Any problems making this? I'll need to confirm tomorrow night.

Game Tuesday night

We play our 1st game tomorrow Aug 18th against KW, time is 8:30 pm, not sure if game is in Stratford or Waterloo, will let you know as soon as we hear.

Please let me know if you can not make it so we can take some Bantams.

This Week

I know we are all disappointed about this weekend. But we must look forward to our remaining two challenges, the league final series and the Eastern Canadians.

As soon as I know the games dates and time I'll post it here. I have asked for Tuesday and Thursday. I will let you know for sure what the dates are.

Elmira Chicken Delivery

The chicken order will be arriving on Wednesday August 19th at our place (82 Mowat St), please make arrangements to pick up your order as soon as you can that evening as we do not have room for 200 cases of chicken. Thanks Jan!

Congratulations!!

Great game tonight boys, you earned a well fought victory. But there is more work to do. The only thing standing in our way is one more team before we claim the league championship.

We'll see everyone in Napanee, where we will come home with a medal. Congratulations!!

Semi-final Last Game

The 3rd game of our Oxford series is Thursday at 8:30 in Burgessville. Be there by 7:45 for warms ups.

The winner will play KW who has defeated Tavistock.

Playoffs

Our next game is scheduled for Tuesday night at 8:30 at Packham. I've sent an email to Oxford to confirm when, after we win Tuesday, the next game will be. Likely Thursday night. As soon as I know I'll post it here.

If you dropped off a door prize for our raffle that was donated by a company/store please send me the name of company/store so I can add them to the banner. Email me at jwoodend@sympatico.ca or call 273-5769. Thanks Jan

Fundraising Update

Congratulations to everyone for the out standing efforts in fundraising. At the BBQ & bake sale last week we raised over $3200. Thanks to all the parents and players who help man the booth and bbq. A special thank you to Lisa Finck for her work on the bake sale. It was a big hit.

Keep up the good work, if anyone can think of a final fundraiser that we can do quickly please let me know. It would be nice to do one more good event to ensure we can cover this very costly week in Quebec.

Next Game

Our next game is Sunday night at 8 pm at our park. As you know this will be a do-or-die game for us. We played well on Thursday but a couple of costly errors did us in. That and the stupid 5 run per inning rule. Anyway our best players will be playing their best spots and we will go at them hard. We need to force a third game.

Come to the park early (7PM) ready to warm up hard, go through the cage and be physically ready and more important be mentally ready to play an error free game.

Eastern Canadians & Metal Spikes

I have been in touch with the officials who are running the tourney and we can NOT wear metal spikes. All players must wear the rubber spikes.

Phone Books

Our fundrasier, delivering phonebooks, has been cancelled. The company we were working for has gone bankrupt.

Burgessville

To get to the park in Burgessville go south on Hwy 59 through Woodstock (about 10 minutes south of Woodstock to Burgessville). At the main corner in Burgessville turn right, park is about 200 meters up on the left.

Be there for 7:50

Playoffs against Oxford - In Burgessville

1st game is Thursday August 6th @ 8:30 pm - location is Burgessville

2nd game is Sunday August 9th @ home - time is 8 pm

Practice

Since we have not played for a while why don't we practice on Monday night at 7 PM at our usual diamond. Hopefully by than I should know when our first game will be against Oxford.