The Campbell River Peewee AA Tyees came home the champions of a tournament in Vernon last weekend.
The team swept the Vernon Invitational tournament with a 5-0 record, defeating some of the top AA Lower Mainland and Interior teams.
Game one took place Friday evening against the Tsawwassen Athletics, who are currently first place in the Lower Mainland league standings. It was a highly competitive game and the Tyees were down by two at the top of the fourth inning but managed to catch up after a few innings.
Nathan Underhill started on the mound for four strong innings. Joe Frumento made a beautiful diving catch at centre field. Breydan Riecker made multiple outs, including turning a double play at second base. Brandon Lambert came in to close the game on the mound with a very strong performance. Ethan Vaton made two impressive defensive plays at short stop with first baseman, Ryan Deagle being there for some spectacular stretches. Catcher Carter Hall made some tremendous throws to gun out players stealing bases. Vaton hustled to get on base and eventually scored two of the team’s runs, as did Frumento. The game was a nail biter from start to finish, but in the end the Tyees prevailed with a 5-3 win. Underhill was named game MVP for his solid pitching performance.
Saturday morning the Tyees faced another strong Lower Mainland team, the North Langley Trappers. Wyatt Murray started on the mound and allowed no runs in the first three innings for an impressive pitching performance. Gage Windle came in as relief and pitched two solid innings and Hall came in to close. The team’s defence was good, including a crucial double play made by centre fielder Cameron Bell. The Tyees took the game 5-3 and Bell earned the game’s MVP honours for his defensive and offensive contributions.
Game three versus Salmon Arm happened Saturday afternoon. Vaton was the starting pitcher and was solid, allowing only one run in two complete innings. Frumento pitched two spectacular innings, allowing no runs and Owen Lagos came in to close in the last inning. The Tyees backed up their pitchers by playing some impeccable defense in what would be an error free game for the team.
The Tyees offence was also stellar, with Murray hitting a two run shot well out of the ballpark. Frumento, Vaton, Underhill, Lambert, Windle, Deagle, Bell and Lagos all had big hits as well.
The Tyees would mercy the Salmon Arm team with a dominating 16-1 win and Frumento was named game MVP for his pitching and strong at bats.
Sunday morning brought the final game of the round robin versus the Cloverdale Spurs. Underhill hit a three-run shot in the first inning to show the opponents that the Tyees came to play. Being on the road though may have begun to wear on the Tyees as they started off the game a little shaky on defence. However, catcher Lambert gunned a player out at second with a perfectly located throw to Riecker. After a couple of innings, the Tyees started really flashing some leather and Vaton made a beautiful double play, catching a line drive and touching second base to shut down any Spurs scoring. Bryce Idiens also made a strong play at second base to thwart any opportunities for the opponent. Hall started on the mound with Bell later relieving him and Windle ended the game with three strong no-run innings. The score was 5-3 for the spurs in the top of the fourth inning when Lagos stepped up to the plate and blasted a two run shot out of the park to tie the game. The bats were alive again in the top of the sixth inning and the Tyees managed to score five more runs with hits from Frumento, Lagos, Lambert, Windle and Hall. The Spurs couldn’t answer and the Campbell River squad won 10-5, making them the only team to be undefeated in the round robin and advancing them to the Finals. Windle got the nod as game MVP for his outstanding pitching performance and key hitting during the game.
The Finals match-up took place Sunday afternoon against the Kamloops Riverdogs, who ended the round-robin with a 3-1 record. Murray took the mound to start and ended up pitching a complete game. Hall again gunned runners out with his hard throws from behind the plate. Riecker started the hitting with a line drive up the third base line and scored after singles from Vaton and Lagos.
Murray crushed another home run, this time a solo shot. Idiens drove in two RBIs in both of his at bats. Riecker, Underhill, Bell, Windle and Lambert all also were credited with RBIs. The only run that Kamloops scored was in the first inning and it was all Campbell River after that. T
he Tyees mercied Kamloops in the fifth with an 11-1 score and was awarded the gold.