The Maple City Brewers went into the OBA tournament knowing they could hit - and that's exactly what they did, plastering opposition pitching for 50 runs over 6 games en route to picking up the Ontario Senior 'B' title.

The hit parade started early as the Brewers opened the tournament Friday evening against their Essex League rival, the Woodslee Orioles. The Brewers were 1-2 against Woodslee during the regular season but that didn't impact their confidence going into the game.

"They hadn't seen our ace (Dave Carey) this season," said player-manager Dave Smith. "We knew they (Woodslee) weren't going to enjoy it."

Carey held Woodslee to just one hit (a check swing single blooped over shortstop) over five shutout innings. Maple City hammered the Oriole pitching staff, plating ten runs in 4+ innings and walked off with the mercy rule win. The game was highlighted by home runs by Ryan Cattrysse (RF) and Brandyn Broadwood (C).

Saturday:

The Brewers were back at it again on Saturday morning taking on Orangeville, in the uncomfortable position of playing at 8 AM. "We took it easy on Friday night, but those early morning games are still a grind," said second baseman Joel Smith, echoing many players' sentiments.

Orangeville, aided by sloppy Maple City defense, jumped out to an early lead, but the Brewers' bats turned things around in a hurry. What was a 5-2 Orangeville lead quickly turned into an 11-5 Brewer win. Matt Rylett picked up his first senior OBA win, pitching 5 1/3 strong innings, allowing 5 runs, 2 earned. Jason Shaw closed out the game with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

As the tournament unfolded around them it became clear that Maple City was the class of the tournament. The Brewers got a bye through the third round and faced hometown Listowel in round four, Saturday evening, in a battle of the undefeated teams.

From the outset it was all Brewers. Joel Smith (2B) lined the second pitch of the ball game to left centre in the top of first and before Listowel had a chance to hit, they were down 8-0. Maple City sent 11 men to the plate in the 8 run first inning highlighted by Alan Oldershaw's (CF) 3 run double that rocketed over the left fielders' head.

Starting pitcher Denny Toth took over from there, pounding the zone for strikes all night. Despite a hostile home crowd Toth allowed 1 run over seven solid innings of work, and picked up the complete game win in the 10-1 victory over the Listowel Legionaires.

Sunday:

Weather took control of the tournament late Saturday. The late night games were postponed due to rain until Sunday morning which meant that the Brewers' round five match was pushed back until 3pm Sunday instead of the original start time of 9am.

When play began for round five, the four teams that remained in the double knockout tournament were Maple City, Mitchell, Listowel, and Woodslee. Maple City and Mitchell were to play, followed by Listowel and Woodslee, with Maple City being the only undefeated team.

Maple City's game versus Mitchell did not start out as planned. Mitchell plated a single run in the first, and two in the second to take an early 3-0 lead against Brewers' starter Joel Smith. A few missed locations and a bit of sloppy defense led to the runs.

As they are wont to do, Maple City didn't waste any time getting the lead back. After tying the score at 3 in the bottom of the third, Scott McGuigan (C), - a mid-season signing to give starting catcher Brandyn Broadwood some relief - making his season debut, hit a home run to right field to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead.

That lead would be shortlived, however, as the Brewers would watch four runs cross the plate in the top of the fifth. Joey Hewak relieved starter Joel Smith with a runner on first and one out and would pitch the remainder of the game.

With the score 8-5 and the Brewers needing one strike to finish off the top of the seventh, a downpour of rain came and delayed the game for an hour and a half. When play was resumed the Brewers finished off the inning, and made a valiant comeback attempt - falling just shy losing 8-7 and leaving runners on first and second.

With the loss, and a Woodslee win over Listowel in the night cap, the Mitchell Astros received a bye to the finals since they were the only remaining team who had not had a bye. Which meant a semifinal rematch of Woodslee and Maple City.

Monday:

Working on two days rest, Dave Carey showed why he is the ace of the staff. Carey threw another complete game against Woodslee, yielding 2 earned runs over 7 innings in a 4-2 semifinal win. Brandyn Broadwood (C) had a 2 RBI single and an RBI single, both with 2 outs, and Joel Smith scored twice and reached base three times via: a walk, an infield single (fake bunt and slapped to third), and a beautiful drag bunt into no-mans' land between the pitcher, the second baseman, and the first baseman.

In the finals, the Mitchell Astros jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as once again Dave Carey found himself on the mound. But the Brewers had never been held to less than 2 runs in a game this season, so it was unlikely to be enough. And it wasn't.

With the score 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Ryan Cattrysse (RF) showed why he's one of the top hitters in the league; blasting a belt high fastball to straight away centre for a 2 run homer and giving the Brewers a 3-1 lead.

That was more than enough support for Carey, who cruised through the Astro's batting order, helped by some superb defense behind him. Any time Mitchell threatened to score, Carey had the answer, slamming the door shut time and again.

Maple City added three insurance runs in the fifth, and two more in the sixth, and at that point it was just a matter of time. Carey came out in the top of the seventh to finish what he started. With two outs and a runner on second, Brandyn Broadwood scraped the fence behind home plate to catch a foul pop-up and the Maple City Brewers were OBA champions for the first time.

Notes:

The win is the first senior OBA title for Chatham since 1997 when the Chatham Diamonds won gold at eliminations... Scott McGuigan was player of the game versus Mitchell (game 1). Dave Carey was player of the game versus Woodslee (game 2). Ryan Cattrysse was player of the game versus Mitchell (game 2)... Two other Chatham teams won OBA gold this weekend - Minor Bantams ('AA') (coached by Brewers' pitcher Terry Oulds), and Minor Mosquitos ('B').