The Gibsons Bantam A All-stars went 6-0 in Mission last weekend, winning the 2005 provincial championship. A total of 10 teams battled it out in the scorching hot Fraser Valley for four days.
First up on day one of the tournament was Duncan. Wayne Nesbitt got the start allowing only one run in four innings.
On the other side of the ball, the Gibsons' bats came out early, scoring three runs in the first with back-to-back doubles by Andrew Baron and Cam Graham. First year pitcher Jesse Ostrosky came in as middle reliever, striking out five batters to earn game MVP. The defence committed only one error en route to a 6-2 win.
Next up was Richmond as Gibsons came out strong with Cam taking to the hill. Both teams struggled early until Chris Pauloski came up big, driving in Nick Biden in the third to put Gibsons on the board.
With the score tied 1-1 in the fourth, Richmond rallied with a three-run inning to take the lead. Brennan Vaughan's clutch hit with two on in the fifth and drove in the go-ahead run. Gibsons' infield took over, getting five of the six remaining outs. Cam was named MVP, with seven strikeouts over six innings in the 6-4 win.
On day two, Gibsons faced first-place powerhouse Newton and their 12-1-1 summer record. Andrew Baron got the nod, holding the big team in check as the Gibsons defence added support. On offence it was Brennan again as he drove in Wayne and Russell Thorsteinsson in the second to give Gibsons their only two runs.
Up 2-1 after five, Jesse came in and earned the save. Andrew was awarded MVP for a five-inning one-run game.
At 3-0 Gibsons came into day three in good shape as they faced Kamloops. The plan was to start Wayne but after a great first inning the lefty's arm was giving him trouble. The boys responded quickly, scoring six runs in the first three innings with several key hits from Chris, Josh Lagace and Aaron Syme. Up 6-3 in the top of the seventh, Kamloops silenced the crowd, scoring four runs to take a 7-6 lead.
Gibsons took its final bats in the bottom of the seventh. With Russell and Trevor Nicholson on, Nick belted a single to score the lead runner and tie the game. Trevor sealed the victory on a passed ball as he slid into home for a close play at the plate. Jon Pickup won the MVP for another amazing performance at shortstop.
On day four Gibsons faced Tsawwassen in the semi-finals as Jesse got the start and pitched five scoreless innings.
Josh proved his all-star selection, robbing Tsawwassen on two deep balls to right field, and third baseman Aaron Syme took two hard grounders away from the opposition. On offence, Gibsons came through again, scoring six runs in the first three innings. Andrew got his team-leading seventh RBI of the tournament on a sac bunt in the sixth and Aaron completed his all-star performance with two more RBIs.
After a 6-3 win, Tsawwassen's coach handed Jesse the MVP for beating his team for the third consecutive time in provincial medal rounds.
In the final, Surrey and their fans were pumped after an incredible eight-run, seventh inning comeback against Newton in the B pool semi-finals.
After losing the coin toss, Gibsons were up first and got on the board when Wayne drove in Jesse for one run. Andrew pitched the first three innings and kept the 5-0 team to one run.
As planned, he handed the ball to Cam for his final four innings of the tournament. In the fifth, Nick made two key catches in deep left field and Gibsons put four more on the board to take a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
After scoring a run to come within three, Surrey had runners on the corners with one out. But Gibsons would not be denied and got the final two outs to win the gold in a 7-3 victory. Cam was handed the finals MVP by a Surrey team that just couldn't beat him.
"I am so proud of the boys," said manager/coach Lorne Baron. "Jon Pickup played 42 innings at shortstop with one error and led our team from the first pitch. Russell Thorsteinsson blew his arm right before the tournament and played the best first base I've ever seen. We had outstanding pitching, clutch hitting from the four rookies and the experienced guys like Cam, Andrew and Jesse proved why they won gold two years ago.
"Our parents supported us all the way and made this a special time. I'd like to personally thank Rob Graham for his energy and commitment and our scorekeeper Denise Nicholson. Our head coach Larry Ostrosky picked 12 players for his team. He told me on day one that we were going to win the provincials, so my hat is off to him. What a great ending to a great season."
