The Leamington Lakers Mosquito Selects sponsored by UE Enclosures have been on a roll lately winning a round robin qualifier to gain entry into the upcoming provincial OBA championship in addition to capturing the Kingsville Select tournament.

The OBA qualifier kicked off with a 13-9 win against the favoured LaSalle Turtle Club Mosquito Major T2.  The dynamic duo of Mason Neufeld and Pancho Giesbrecht combined to pitch six stellar innings.  Major offensive contributions came from James Sonoski who reached base four times driving in three runs and Lincoln Rempel who broke the game open in the third inning with a grand slam home run.  

The win against Lasalle set up a do-or-die game against Belle River.  The Lakers scuffled at the plate early on falling behind 7-1 when a lighting storm hit.  The game resumed 2 nights later with the Lakers having only 30 minutes (time limit) to erase the deficit.  Landon Ford pitched two solid innings to keep the game close.  The resilient Lakers came all the way back tying the game 8-8.  In extra innings Belle River was set aside 3 up 3 down highlighted by Laker catcher Tamara Neufeld throwing out the lead off hitter attempting to steal second.  Tamara would score the winning run shortly after charging home on a passed ball sending the Lakers to the OBA’s.

The Lakers kicked off the Kingsville tournament a few nights later with an 18-4 win over Kingsville.  Lead-off batter Matty Mastromatteo scored in the first and the Lakers did not look back.  Anthony Weibe, Mastromatteo and Carter Neufeld combined to pitch a strong game.

The next day the Lakers defeated Lasalle 7-0 highlighted by Mason Neufeld and Wiebe tossing a combined no-hitter.  Mason Neufeld and Ford combined to go 5-6 at the plate scoring four runs.

The Lakers next tied Riverside 5-5 in a low scoring affair.  Mason Neufeld had a two RBI triple in the first.  The win gave Leamington first place in the pool.

The semi-finals pitted the Lakers against Windsor Central.  Giesbrecht, Wiebe and Mason Neufeld combined to shut out Windsor 7-0.  Caiden Fuller was the offensive star when he followed his earlier triple with a mammoth home run in the fifth putting the game out of reach. 

The finals saw a rematch with the tough Riverside squad.  The game mirrored the earlier contest at the outset with runs hard to come by.  Singles by Carter Neufeld and Tamara Neufeld scored Fuller in the second inning.  The game stayed 1-0 until the fifth when Austin Hamilton laid down a perfect squeeze bunt scoring Rempel.  The Lakers would score 4 more runs in the inning taking the championship with a 6-1 win.

With contributions from every player the team was led by its pitchers with Giesbrecht, Wiebe and Mason Neufeld leading the way.  Offensively the team was led by Ford and Fuller.  Ford was named tournament MVP with an impressive weekend at the plate, particularly when hits were hard to come by.  

The team would like to thank its sponsor UE Enclosures for its continued support.   Now its on to Cambridge.  Go Lakers!

Photo Names:

Front Row:   Matthew Mastromatteo, Austin Hamilton, Carter Neufeld, Anthony Wiebe,

Middle Row:  Pancho Giesbrecht, Lincoln Rempel, Landon Ford, James Sonoski, Caidon Fuller, Mason Neufeld

Back Row:   Coaches: Derick Mastromatteo, John Ford, Patrick Sonoski