Micksburg, ON
UOVMFL: http://ca.geocities.com/fitzroyfastball/UOVMFL.htm
The Micksburg Twins won the Upper Ottawa Valley Men’s Fastball League playoff final series with a 4-1 series win in the best-of-seven series over the Pontiac Royals from Bryson, Quebec. All games were very close, with the largest margin of victory being a 3 run win by Micksburg in the final game.
This is the third consecutive playoff title for the Twins in UOVMFL play, who also won the regular season title. Micksburg also finished tied for third at the Tournament of Champions for ISC II teams in Kitchener this summer.
Micksburg was led by ToC MVP Corey Costello, who threw four shutouts in his four wins, allowing only two runs and eleven hits in the 36 innings of work over five complete games in the final. Costello also had two no-hitters.
Veteran lefty Len Burger threw very well for Pontiac before going down to a knee injury. Burger lost the first game despite throwing a two hitter and won the second game in eight innings with a one hitter. Darren Featherstone and Mark Wright also threw for the Royals.
Game four was a hitless game, as Micksburg scored their two runs on a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk.
The only home run of the series was hit by Corey Costello, a solo shot that won the first game of the series by a 1-0 score.
There was some controversy in the series, with allegations of pitchers deliberately throwing at batters, and even a player getting involved with fans. See the links below for stories on each game. The series was plagued by rain as three games had to be postponed.
Pontiac had previously beaten the Shawville, QC Athletics in the semi-finals 3 games to 1 in the best-of-five.
The Upper Ottawa Valley League was down to three teams this season after Beachburg, ON NRTCo dropped out in June. Fitzroy Harbour, ON WC Electric and Quyon, QC Junior Flyers played an affiliate schedule with the league. There has been discussions of a possible team from Cobden, ON joining the league for 2007.
Game Results in the finals:
Game 1 at Micksburg
Micksburg 1 Pontiac 0
WP – Costello (no-hitter); LP – Burger (two-hitter).
Game winning solo HR: Corey Costello
Game 1 story
Game 2 at Bryson
Pontiac 2 Micksburg 1 (8 innings)
WP – Burger (one-hitter); LP – Costello (two-hitter).
Game winning RBI: Chad Milne
Game 2 story
Game 3 at Bryson
Micksburg 2 Pontiac 0
WP – Costello (four-hitter); LP – Burger with relief from Featherstone.
Game winning RBI: Kevin Humphries
Game 3 story
Game 4 at Micksburg
Micksburg 2 Pontiac 0
WP – Costello (no-hitter); LP – Burger with relief from Featherstone (combined no-hitter).
Game winning RBI: Jerry McIntyre
Game 4 story
Game 5 at Micksburg
Micksburg 3 Pontiac 0
WP – Costello (five-hitter); LP – Featherstone with relief from Wright.
Game winning RBI: Barry McIntyre
Game 5 story