The
Clinton Mustangs U15 team coached by Craig Skinner and John Feeney captured the
2022 OBA ‘D’ Championship in Exeter with an undefeated record over five games
at the Labour Day classic.
Clinton opened the tournament Friday afternoon against St. Mary’s Rockies at Alvin Willert Field in Exeter with Keegan Dale on the mound. Clinton started strong and opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first, but some early tournament jitters and shaky defense allowed St. Mary’s to answer with seven unearned runs in the top of the second. Brendan Hickey sparked the offense in the bottom of the second with a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line reaching 1st on the error allowing a run to score. Clinton was able to refocus defensively behind a strong relief pitching performance by Joel Feeney allowing only two runs over 3 and 2/3 innings while the bats came alive with the Mustangs scoring multiple times including a 6 run rally to complete the comeback in the bottom of the 4th inning. Avery Skinner pitched a scoreless 6th notching 2 strikeouts to seal the victory.
Game two was an early morning affair at the Hall of Fame diamond in St. Mary’s Saturday morning versus the Listowel Legionnaires. Skinner got the start and pitched a gem keeping the Legionnaires off balance all game and with the help of some strong defensive plays behind him allowed only four hits through 4 and 1/3 innings and limited Listowel to 4 runs in a lopsided 15-4 victory in five innings for the Mustangs. Closer Dylan Meriam needed only seven pitches, striking out one batter in relief to complete the win. Skinner, Jesse Cowan and Ethan Blake notched a pair of hits each while Feeney led the offense going 3 for 3 at the plate scoring three times.
Clinton’s third game of the tournament was against the Exeter Express back in Exeter for a Saturday afternoon matchup of the tournament’s two remaining undefeated teams. The Mustangs defense continued to improve playing a solid game start to finish needing only six innings to hand the Express their first loss of the tournament. Clintons high powered yet patient offense continued to shine as the Mustangs registered 11 hits and 15 walks finishing with a 15-5 victory in six innings to remain undefeated. Starting pitcher Kaeden MacDonald absolutely dominated the Exeter team allowing only 7 hits and striking out 10 Express batters over 5 and 2/3 innings. Closing pitcher Meriam completed the one-sided rout dispatching the final Express batter with ease. Blake, Cowan, MacDonald and Owen Stoll all recorded a pair of hits with Stoll crossing the plate four times.
The Sunday semi-final draws matched the Mustangs with the Kincardine Cardinals for another early morning tilt. Clinton came out a little flat against a strong hitting Kincardine team and trailed 2-0 after the 1st inning. The Mustangs had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 2nd when Jack Wormington ignited the offense by ducking under a wildpitch at his head only to have the ball hit his bat and roll into fair territory. The Cardinals fielded this highly unorthodox “bunt” and got the force out at home but threw the ball away trying to double up Wormington at first. Clinton scored two runs on the play while Wormington ended up on 3rd base. Wormington would score on a groundout by Stoll and it was all Mustangs baseball from there. Will Bruinsma had the hot bat going 2 for 2 with a walk and three runs scored while Blake, Cowan, Stoll, Skinner, Wormington and Luke Zondag all recorded hits. Blake recorded the win holding Kincardine to just 3 hits while striking out four with a solid pitching performance throwing a complete game over 5 innings punching their ticket to the finals.
The Sunday afternoon OBA final saw a rematch between the Mustangs and the Exeter Express in front of a large crowd of fans with many supporters from both towns making the trip to cheer on their respective teams. Feeney returned to the mound as the starting pitcher in his second appearance of the tournament. Despite a strong start, Exeter was able to take a quick lead scoring two runs in the top of the second. Clinton answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second to tie the game at two. Clinton added a third run in the third inning to take the lead when Stoll scored on MacDonald’s sacrifice fly to deep center field. The score would remain 3-2 behind strong pitching performances and solid defense by both teams. Cohen Harris knocked a double up the middle in the 6th inning which would drive the Exeter starter from the game. The Mustangs took advantage of a shaky Express bullpen when Bruinsma hammered a two run double over the right fielder’s head in the bottom of the 6th to break open the scoring and take a 3 run lead. The Mustangs would add another run off the wild Express bullpen with Stoll drawing a walk and both Feeney and Blake getting hit by the pitch. Feeney would go five and 2/3 innings allowing only two runs on three hits while striking out eight before handing the ball over to Dale with two outs in the top of the 6th to try and preserve the win. With nerves of steel, Dale shut down the Exeter hitters over the final inning and a third giving up one hit and striking out two including the final out of the game to set off a wild on field celebration for the Mustangs. Cohen Harris led the Mustangs offense in the final game going 3 for 3 with two singles and a double. Blake added a pair of hits with Skinner, Stoll and Meriam adding a hit each. Skinner, Cowan, Zondag, Stoll, Bruinsma and Dale crossed the plate to account for all six Clinton runs in the contest.
Clinton utilized a balanced attack throughout the weekend from all 13 Mustangs players who combined to record 51 hits and score a total of 62 runs over the five game tournament while allowing only 23 runs in turn. Head Coach Craig Skinner noted that with the exception of the one bad inning against St. Mary’s early in the tournament, the Mustangs defense was exceptionally strong. “We came up big when we had to, and the guys made very few errors allowing our pitchers to throw with confidence knowing they had a lot of help behind them.” Clinton finished their championship season on a 14 game winning streak with an overall record of 16 wins and 2 losses.