Lou Gehrig 9U Red goes undefeated at Mathewson McCarthy tourney

The Lou Gehrig 9U Red won the Mathewson McCarthy tournament held July 26-28. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row - Alex Dimitroff, Collin Hunt, Mike Shanahan, Andrew White, Jon Tucker, Connor Bender; second row - Ben Wald, Dylan Lambert, Alex Bender, Alex Finley, Nick Pilon, Jordan Jenneve; third row - coach Tim White, manager Mark Shanahan, and coaches Paul Bender and Dave Wald.

The Lou Gehrig 9U Red team went 5-0 on their way to winning the Mathewson McCarthy tournament played July 26-28.

From the nail biting, one-run extra inning victory in the opening game to the last inning heroics of the championship game, the Lou Gehrig squad combined timely hitting, a rock solid defense and a handful of gutsy pitching performances to win their second straight title of the summer.

Final

Lou Gehrig Red 6,

Clarence Red 5

Connor Bender scored the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the last inning to give Lou Gehrig the title.

With one out, Bender stroked a shot to the right field fence to put the winning run on base. Dylan Lambert laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Bender, seeing that third base was open because of the bunt coverage, took advantage. A throwing error at third allowed Bender to touch home plate and touch off a celebration with his teammates.

Clarence, looking to avenge a loss from the day before, jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings. Lou Gehrig never quit as they chipped away with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second as Nick Pilon and Mike Shanahan each had RBIs. Andrew White, Bender and Lambert each scored a pair of runs, including three in the fourth inning that gave Lou Gehrig a 5-4 lead. Clarence tied it with a run in the fifth.

White struck out seven over three innings as he tried to keep things close and Alex Bender pitched a scoreless sixth to set up his brother's heroics. Pilon had a pair of RBIs while Collin Hunt also knocked in a run.

Semifinal

Lou Gehrig Red 9,

Clarence Black 4

Lou Gehrig pitchers combined to strike out 13 as they shut down Clarence. Player of the Game Alex Bender led the staff with eight strikeouts while Jordan Jenneve struck out three in a fourth inning, bases loaded relief effort. Dylan Lambert pitched the final two scoreless innings to close things out.

On the offensive side, Alex Dimitroff, Andrew White and Connor Bender each scored a pair of runs while Collin Hunt doubled and scored. Jon Tucker and Ben Wald also scored for Lou Gehrig.

Game Three Lou Gehrig Red 10, Ancaster,

Ont. 0 (four innings)

The Lou Gehrig offense put runs on the board in every inning while their pitchers held the visitors to only one hit.

Andrew White struck out five, Ben Wald struck out a pair and Jon Tucker tossed a scoreless inning to close the game.

Player of the game Nick Pilon nailed a runner at home in the fourth inning with a beautiful throw from deep center to preserve the shutout.

Alex Dimitroff (2 for 2, two runs), Collin Hunt (two RBIs), Alex Bender (2 for 2, RBI) and White (2 for 3, three RBIs) led the offense.

Game Two

Lou Gehrig Red 14,

Clarence Red 3

In an opening round matchup that saw the eventual title game opponents battle each other, Lou Gehrig scored early and often to get the win.

Jon Tucker, Connor Bender and Andrew White each scored a pair of runs. Alex Dimitroff had three hits, Jordan Jenneve had two hits and drove in three runs while Collin Hunt had a two-run double and Mike Shanahan chipped in with a pair of singles to lead the offense.

On the mound, Dylan Lambert threw three excellent innings, Alex Finley was tough over two innings and Alex Bender was nearly

perfect as a closer. Finley won player of the game honors as chosen

by the opposing manager.

Game One Lou Gehrig Red 2, Mel Ott 'A'

1 (seven innings)

In a pitcher's duel that saw both sides strike out nine batters, it took a pair of bunts and a bloop single to give Lou Gehrig Red the opening game victory. Mel Ott jumped out with a quick run as their leadoff hitter walked and eventually scored. That lead held up until the fifth inning when Mike Shanahan singled and later scored on a single by Alex Bender to knot the game at 1-1.

Cleanup hitter Andrew White led off the seventh inning with a surprise bunt single. Connor Bender laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and White took third when the Mel Ott third baseman left the base wide open as he charged the bunt. Dylan Lambert's seeing-eye single behind first based scored the game winner.

On the mound, Ben Wald was marvelous over the first three, Alex Bender shut down Mel Ott over the next two and Andrew White threw two scoreless innings. Alex Dimitroff won player of the game honors with some sparkling defense at shortstop and Alex Finley chipped in with a pair of singles.