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Powell River baseball team earns provincial berth

U15 club wins just enough at zone tournament to move on
Powell River Bantam Rep baseball team
BANTAM BALLERS: Powell River Bantam Rep baseball team will be playing for a provincial championship. Coaches and players include [back row, from left] Mike Mastrodonato, Callum Street, Jacob Duyvesteyn, Scott Peters and Scott Mastrodonato; and front row, from left] Nic Colasanto, Danny Schreurs, Maddox Koivu, Gavin Mastrodonato, Jackson Frost, Nic Peters, Luke Shipley, Cohen Mastrodonato, Colton Ellis and Ian Dennis. Contributed photo

Several minor sports teams in Powell River have enjoyed winning seasons this year, and yet another has advanced to a provincial championship.

The U15 bantam baseball team of grade eight and nine players recently placed third, with two wins and losses, at the five-team Vancouver Island zone tournament in Campbell River on July 28 and 29. Those results were enough to earn the team a berth in the BC Baseball provincial finals in Mission.

Powell River lost a close opening game to Stuart Channel by a score of 10-8.    

“It was an okay start for us,” said coach Scott Mastrodonato. “We just made too many mistakes and gave up too many unearned runs.”

As a team, Powell River had not played a lot of games together, according to Mastrodonato, and had never faced Stuart Channel before.

Saturday’s early morning game featured a must win against Nanaimo, and win they did. In two previous meetings between the teams in summer ball, Powell River won one and lost one in games decided by one run. This time, Powell River blew Nanaimo out.

“We had a great start and ended up winning that game 13-1,” said Mastrodonato.

A mercy rule ends games after five complete innings if a team is up 10 runs or more.

“Our bats were good and we had a good game from our pitcher, Luke Shipley,” said Mastrodonato. “He ended up almost pitching a complete game,”

Powell River faced tournament powerhouse Campbell River in its third game on Saturday and were blown out 16-1.

“It was just one of those games that you forget about,” said the coach. “They saw us as a threat based on playing them prior to the tournament when we had decent results against them. They put their hotshot on the mound and by the time we got some hits it was too late to make a comeback.”

Powell River did put that game behind them and picked up the win they needed on Sunday against Victoria to advance to the provincials.

“The bats were good right off the start and then quieted down, said Mastrodonato. “Gavin Mastrodonato pitched a complete game, the team played good defence behind him and we won 14-7.”

The U15 provincial finals take place from August 9 to 13 in Mission.