Jul 14, 2024 | Don Barber | 80 views
Stratford U17 Take Bronze Medal At Stratford Tournament
The injury bug has taken hold of the U17 Stratford Flames but perseverance paid off with a Bronze Medal Performance.
With Pitchers Ella Koch and Pressley Stephenson out on the injured list the lions share of pitching for the weekend fell on Kenleigh Soper and Brooklyn Boville and they did not disappoint.
On Friday night Stratford lost a close game to Haldimand Heat Black 8-6. Ella Gracey led the team with 2 hits including an RBI triple in the first inning. Other singles by McKenzie Parsons, Brooke Wilhelm and Lyla Straus rounded out a 4 run sixth inning but it was just a little too late.
Saturday morning started out with a high scoring 14-9 victory over the London Lightning Blue. Boville started the game with Soper coming in to finish up the final inning. Stratford Flames U17 piled up 16 hits in the game. McKenzie Parsons drove the middle of the lineup going 2 for 4 with 4 RBI's. Brooke Wilhelm and Rylee Nethercott each with 3 hits, Adding in 13 stolen bases and no errors in the field added up to a big win to start the day.
Game three Kenleigh Soper not only led with a great pitching performance but went 3 for 3 at the plate leading to a lopsided 12-1 victory over the Mississauga North Tigers. Stratford scored 5 runs in the bottom of the third inning. Parsons singled scoring 1 run, Soper singled scoring 2 runs and Rachael Barber singled scoring 1 run and an error scoring the 5th. Nethercott and Boville each collected multiple hits in the game.
Brooke Wilhelm drove in 4 runs on 2 hits but Stratford fell to Haldimand Heat Orange 13-7 to end the round robin on Saturday. Sophie Anderson was a call up for the rest of the weekend and played solid on first base making many great catches and contributed well with her bat.
Sunday morning brought on the Semi Final game against Haldimand Heat Black again. The team collected 9 hits but just was not enough. Parsons and Hannah Mogk each had 2 hits, and Nethercott drove in 2 runs but the bats of Haldimand Black were just too strong.
That loss put Stratford into the Bronze Medal game against Haldimand Orange who had finished first through the round robin. Flames got on the board in the first inning after Mogk singled, Parsons grounded out ad Wilhelm singled each scoring a run. The Flames flipped the game on its head in the top of the 2nd inning scoring 5 runs on 4 hits. Nethercott, Boville and Straus each collected 2 hits for Stratford. Boville earned the win going the whole game
Another exciting weekend of ball for the U17 Flames ad another medal for the collection.