[Alsfastball] Intermediate 'A' Eastern Canadians - Halifax Tribe claim E. Canadian title; beat N.S. rival Blackburn Transport 4-0

[Al Doran]

From: "Patrick Healey" <pat_healey at pei.sympatico.ca>
To: "Al Doran" <fastball at pmihrm.com>
Subject: Intermediate 'A' Eastern Canadians - Halifax Tribe claim E. 
Canadian title; beat N.S. rival Blackburn Transport 4-0
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 20:24:51 -0300


Halifax Tribe captures Intermediate 'A'

Eastern Canadian ch'ship



By Pat Healey

It wasn't easy, but the Halifax Tribe got the job done.

The Tribe took advantage of four Blackburn Transport errors to score three 
unearned runs en route to a 4-0 win in the championship final Sunday at the 
2004 Linkletter Hotel Intermediate 'A' Eastern Canadian Championship.

All the games were played at Queen Elizabeth Park's Very Important 
Volunteer Field i9n Sumemrside.

Blackburn Transport won it's morning game 1-0 over the Tribe in the cross 
over game in the morning to take the easy route, meaning the Tribe would 
have to play back to back if they were to make it to the final.

Halifax narrowly beat the host Linkletter Motel Islanders 3-2 in extra 
innings to advance to the final.

In the championship final, Halifax scored twice on three errors in the 
third inning and never looked back.

Leading the charge at the dish for the Morley GooGoo-coached squad was Troy 
DeCoff (2-3, RBI, run scored), Wayne Rose (2-4) and Shawn Hanifen (1-2, 
double, hit by pitch, run scored).

For Blackburn Transport, who wasted a 11 strikeout game by starter Pat 
Slaunwhite, Kyle Slaunwhite (1-2), Kenny Bennett (1-3, double), Josh 
Slaunwhite (1-3) and Jeff Norris (1-3) were tops.

Blackburn Transport threatened in the bottom of the fifth when Kyle 
Slaunwhite hot an RBI single, but John Mialman was tagged out going to 
second to end the threat.

Winning pitcher Adam Rodgers picked up right where he left off in the game 
against the host after coming on in relief, throwing seven complete innings 
of four hit ball and striking out four. In the playoffs he went 2-1 and his 
performance earned him the playoff MVP award.

Losing pitcher Slaunwhite went seven innings, allowing one earned run on 
seven hits, walking one and fanning 11.

Coach GooGoo said he is pleased with his team's effort, though he admitted 
the Tribe didn't make it easy for themselves.

"It was just the simple things that paid off in the end," GooGoo said. "One 
swing of the bat can change the ball game, like it did in the last game 
(against the host Islanders). Fortunately, for us we were capitalize on a 
couple hits to win that game.

"We continued to ride on that high in this game and everybody was swinging 
their bats very good."

The two teams met in crossover action early Sunday morning, with the 
Blackburn prevailing 1-0 behind a strong outing by Pat Slaunwhite.

HOSTS FINISH THIRD

The host Linkletter Hotel Islanders almost made it two upsets at the 
tournament that many thought they wouldn't contend in, when they took the 
Tribe to extra innings only to lose 3-2.

Linkletter got into the semi final after beating the Moncton Keith's 7-4 
behind the strong pitching from duo Jamie Betts, who picks up the win, and 
reliever Pierre Richard.

In that game, playoff top hitter Gerald Gallant (3-4, two runs scored, two 
RBI), Brian Greenan (2-4, double, run scored), Kevin Harvey (2-4, three 
RBI, double) and the hot swinging Larry Gallant (2-3, two runs scored, RBI) 
powered the Isles to win.

For Moncton, Dan Hilche (2-4, run scored, caught stealing), Derrick 
Woodworth (1-4, triple, run scored), and Brad Colpitts (1-3, run scored) 
led the Keith's.

Betts went four and one third innings before getting relieved by Richard 
due to soreness. He struck out four and walked one. Richard went two and 
two thirds, allowing two runs on two hits, walking two and striking out two.

Losing pitcher Dan Hilche went three innings allowing three runs on five 
hits, walking one and fanning one. Brad Cameron pitched four innings in 
relief allowing four runs and sitting down one.

In the semifinal, the Islanders got down 2-0 to the Tribe on a third inning 
solo home run by Geoff Jamieson (1-2, two RBI, run scored), before rallying 
with a towering two run slam off the bat of Moe Cormier in the bottom of 
the seventh. The Islanders got Ryan Gallant to third base, but failed to 
score to win sending the game to extra innings.

Linkletter had a strong showing on the slab from 17-year old talented, 
up-and-coming pitcher Pierre Richard, who pitched great in his lone start 
and considering the competition he was facing. He struck out one and walked 
one in the complete game action, keeping the Islanders in the game the 
whole way.

Wayne Rose hit an RBI single to bring home Roger Connolly from second with 
the winning run in the top half of the eighth.

Linkletter got runners in scoring position in the bottom half of the 
inning, but failed to score them.

On Saturday, the hosts made the upset of the tournament, ousting the 
favoured Stoufville Mennos 2-1 thanks to a two run bottom of the seventh 
home run by Brian Greenan.

MONCTON WINS DRAMACTICALLY

The Moncton Keith's picked up their two wins of the tournament in back to 
back games, by taking out the Sydney Cardinals 4-1 before rallying for a 
2-1 extra inning win over the St. Mary's Gunners (Ont. 2) thanks to a 
two-run walk-off, blast by round robin top batter Dan Hilche (8-11 in 
tournament play).

Hilche went 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring a run, having a stolen base and 
contributing an RBI.

PLAYOFF AWARD WINNERS

Gerald Gallant of the host Islanders was the playoff top hitter, swinging 
4-for-11 while the playoff MVP was Adam Rodgers of the Tribe who struck out 
16 batters while scattering 13 hits over 16 and one third innings - all of 
which went Sunday in the playoff round.

From: "Patrick Healey" <pat_healey at pei.sympatico.ca>



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