Bucks narrowly miss final
Letting it fly: Salmon Arm Bucks’ Harris Stoneman delivers (left) to the plate against North Delta Sunday at a tournament in Surrey.
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Updated: July 08, 2009 5:13 PM
The Salmon Arm Bucks midget all-star team learned a lot about their team character playing in a three-team field at the Diane Cook Memorial baseball tournament in Surrey this past weekend.
Teams from Vancouver and Cloverdale pulled out of the tournament just before it began making the format a round-robin with the remaining three teams playing each other twice.
After a lengthy drive Friday afternoon, Salmon Arm faced the host squad in a 6 p.m. meeting and got off to a good start behind a strong starting pitching performance from Andrew Harrison.
However, a calamitous bottom of the fourth inning that saw Bucks pitchers walk several batters and included multiple errors by the defence proved to be their downfall. The Surrey team piled on 14 runs in the inning to take a commanding lead.
Joel Kipp settled things down on the mound for Salmon Arm in the fifth and sixth innings allowing the offence to chip away at the sizable deficit. David Harrison and Brandon Briere’s combined 5-for-6 effort at the plate brought Salmon Arm to within four at 14-10 but that was as close as they would come in a 16-10 final.
Kipp took game MVP honours for his relief work and by going 3-for-4 batting leadoff.
The Bucks found their game Saturday with an early game against North Delta. Getting a great starting pitching performance from Colman Spelay, who needed just 44 pitches to complete four innings of work, Salmon Arm secured a 9-1 win.
At the plate, David Harrison continued to terrorize opposition pitching by spraying the ball all over the field.
Wes Henderson provided some extra insurance executing a squeeze bunt to score Andrew Harrison in the top of the seventh. Briere recorded the final nine outs on the mound to nail down the win. David Harrison was named game MVP after producing three hits in four trips to the plate with four RBI.
Saturday’s second game may have been the most exciting of the entire tournament. Salmon Arm fell behind Surrey 4-0 early on but again refused to lay down as Nick Harrison provided three huge innings of shutout relief. That allowed the offence to get its bearings and generate a comeback led by David Harrison who swatted two doubles and picked up two RBI.
Playing with last bats, Salmon Arm took a 6-4 lead into the top of the seventh. Henderson, who threw scoreless baseball in the fifth and sixth, allowed a run and walked a batter putting the tying run on base. Andrew Harrison then came on in relief and with the tying run standing 90 feet away, he went to a full count on a Surrey hitter before putting him away with a fastball to get the save.
Coach Trevor Harrison was pleased with his team’s tenacity.
“We stayed in the game for a whole seven innings. I felt good for our kids to be in a game like that.”
Nick Harrison earned the game MVP nod for Salmon Arm.
Sporting a 2-1 record going into the final round-robin game against North Delta, all the Bucks needed to do was win or lose by less than eight but a collective case of defensive yips cost the Bucks. Salmon Arm infielders were eaten up by several ground balls, forcing starting pitcher Briere’s pitch count to go higher than it should have.
Again, Salmon Arm was down early but this time, no comeback was in the offing. The Bucks scratched out three runs but it wasn’t nearly enough in a 13-3 loss. Andrew Harrison was game MVP, collecting two doubles and an RBI while playing solid defence in the outfield.
Overall, it was an encouraging start to the all-star campaign.
“My expectations were surpassed,” said Harrison. “We played better than I thought we would for our first time together as a group.
“I think if we play a full game against any team, we’re going to have a good shot at provincials.”
The team has this weekend off but will play in the Valley of Champions tournament in Kelowna July 17 to 19. Provincials are in Mission in early August.
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