Cards smash Atoms to win northern baseball final

The Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) baseball crew might not have a ton of experience on their side, but that didn't stop them from squeezing in a million and one intriguing scenarios in the championship final between the Elliot Lake Atoms and the St. Charles College Cardinals.

With the banner up for grabs for just a second year, onlookers were unsure of just how much to expect during the May 27 game. Much to the delight to the crowd on hand, the bulk of the excitement occured over the final two winnings, with Elliot Lake and St. Charles deadlocked at 3-3 after five innings of play.

The Cards grabbed the lead in the top of the six as a single by Cameron Devlaminck cashed in Joel Deck, who doubled to start the inning. The Atoms answered in the bottom half, as Tristan Hanna and Josh Clark both reached base to start the frame.

In fact, following a pair of stolen bases, Hanna would score on a single from Clark. In turn, Clark promptly worked his way around third base before being plated on a ground out from Kieran Naus.

Needing at least one to tie, the Cardinals would see the door opened when Harry Smith and Ethan Lamarche drew back-to-back walks to open the seventh. Smith dodged a bullet after being caught in a rundown between third and home, scoring the equalizing run when the Elliot Lake infielder chased him home without making the throw to the catcher.

There would be some controversy as Lamarche gave St. Charles the lead, darting home on a wild pitch. He was initially called out by the home plate umpire, with the base ump reversing the call based on obstruction by the Elliot Lake pitcher, as it was ruled he denied the runner access to home base.

Inserted as a pinch-runner, Deck would provide some key insurance, scoring cleanly on a wild pitch, as the Cards took a 7-5 lead to the bottom of the seventh.

But things would not come easy for coaches Jason and Darren Michelutti and their lads. One-out, back-to-back singles got Elliot Lake going, as the team opted to score one on a squeeze play, executed successfully. A walk and stolen base created a scenario with runners on second and third, two out, with St. Charles leading 7-6 and Smith on the mound.

A ground ball by Clark was originally mishandled by the Cardinals first baseman, before recovering to get the out by roughly half a step. Through it all, Smith was front and center, both at the plate and with his pitching duties.

"Scoring the run was more spur of the moment," he said. "But the inning of pitching is so long, and there's so much pressure on you. Then that last out just took forever, it was so dramatic.

"If I had to pick a best moment, it was winning it in the last inning."

While Smith and a handful of others on the St. Charles' team have played rep baseball at some point in their career, many have not.

"I think that's the best thing about high school, is that you have your friends on the team," Smith said. "Of course, they don't all play rep, but you want them to come out and you want to teach them. I think when you win with them, it's even better."

In a sport where pitching often dominates, maximum pitch counts not only ensure that teams need more than just one or two exceptional arms to win it all, but also raises some more recreational ball players into the spotlight.

"In our semi-final, we had Brad Mackenzie pitch," said Smith. "We were out of pitchers, we were all out of innings. We only expected about three innings, but he pitched five or six innings of really good ball, and our bats came alive.

"He did a great job for us."

OFSAA baseball is split into both an East and West Regional, taking place on June 3 and June 4 in Toronto and Windsor respectively. St. Charles does not yet know which one it will attend.

The top four teams from regionals will meet June 10 in London, for semi-final play, as well as bronze and gold medal matchups.