Richmond boys' fastball officials may appear to be wearing permanent smiles this week.
But they're well deserved, after two local squirt teams placed first and second at last weekend's provincial championships.
The Rebels, relegated to the "B" round after a 2-2 record in the "A" round-robin, defeated the Ravens in Sunday's final.
The Ravens began their trek to the title game with a 7-0 loss to host North Delta Vipers, but quickly erased the first-game jitters with a 6-3 win over Burnaby two hours later.
The early morning practices throughout the season paid further dividends in an 8 a.m. Saturday game against Kelowna Kobras, won by Richmond 26-1. The locals demonstrated good sportsmanship by continuing to encourage the Kelowna players despite the lopsided score.
Later in the day, Richmond dropped an 11-3 decision to high-flying Nanaimo Yankees, which to that point in the tournament had crushed every team it had faced. Raven pitcher Curtis Tablotney did a fine job of keeping the game close early on as he struck out two of the top four batters helping Richmond built up a 3-0 lead. But Nanaimo's strong bats got going by the fourth inning.
With a 2-2 record, the Ravens began the double knockout playoff at 7 p.m. Saturday, again facing host North Delta. This time, the Ravens would not be denied with relentless hard work and strong defence keys to a 9-6 win.
Although they were now just a win away from a guaranteed spot in the final, the Ravens had to get past Richmond's "A" team - the Rebels.
The game, played Sunday morning, began on a high note for the Ravens which took a 1-0 first-inning lead. The teams stayed closed for the next couple of innings before the "A" side's offence began to erupt.
But the Ravens continued to hang in and armed with a positive attitude pulled out a surprising 7-6 win.
The Rebels then defeated North Delta's "B" team to set up the rematch between the two Richmond sides for the championship.
Local foursome fabulous as B.C.
field hockey teams net medals
Richmond field hockey players made strong contributions as a pair of B.C. teams earned silver medals at recent tournaments.
Alisa Carey, Mindy Cohen and Lauren MacLean shone at the just-completed Canadian under-21 championships, helping the B.C. under-18 girls "B" team to a second-place finish behind a very efficient Ontario under-21 squad. The previous weekend, Carla Taunton helped B.C.'s under-23 team finish scond, again behind Ontario, at the Canadian senior championship.
Six Richmond players take to ice
for provincial ringette tryouts
The top ringette players in B.C. will be at the Ice Centre this weekend, competing for spots on the provincial Canada Games team.
Six Richmond players are still among the 32 players trying out for the squad: Tammy Castor, Kara Horsman, Sarah Ross, Christie Ross, Jennifer Bergen and Erin Gosse. The team is coached by Carmen Castor and Kerri Lucas-West.
The players will participate in a series of practices on Saturday afternoon, with an intra-squad game scheduled between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
A final camp will be held Aug. 8 in Kelowna, following which the final team will be selected. That squad will play its first pre-game tournament in Edmonton in September.
The Canada Games are next winter.
WORLD BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mosher to face Chinese Tapei in
Canada's second outing tomorrow
Don Fennell
sports reporter
Richmond's Craig Mosher will play a prominent role as Canada makes its first appearance in four years at the IBA World Baseball Championships starting today (Wednesday) it Italy.
The talented southpaw, scheduled to start tomorrow's game against Chinese Taipei, was impressive in two pre-tournament games against the USA last week in Connecticut and at Yale. His most impressive showing was in the final of three tune-up matches between the two national teams as he held a 3-2 lead through six innings before being pulled.
Canada, fourth at last month's world championship qualifier in Nicaragua with a 6-3 record, is part of Pool "B" along with Australia, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Netherlands, Russia, USA, and Nicaragua. Pool "A" features China, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Panama and Dominican Republic.
Canada's first scheduled match at the world championships is today against Australia. After tomorrow's game against Chinese Tapei, Canada is slated for face Korea on Friday; Nicaragua on Saturday; and Russia on Sunday. After a day off, they'll hook up with the Netherlands on July 28 and the USA on July 29. The playoffs (the top four teams from each eight-team pool advance) begin on July 31.
