The Oceanside Midget baseball team clinched the Mid-Island Midget AA League title after beating Ladysmith 7-3 in the gold-medal game played at Springwood Park diamond on Wednesday, June 27.
It was a memorable season-ender for Oceanside, especially for the players in their final year with the team. Oceanside was competitive throughout the season in a league that had teams from Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Stuart Channel and Duncan.
Against Ladysmith in the final, in front of home fans, Oceanside battled hard again a formidable Ladysmith squad with a combination of good offence and defence. Starting for Oceanside on the mound was Ty Barker.
In the opening frame, Scotty Williams sparked the Oceanside offence with a leadoff single and went on to steal second base. The next batter, Nathaniel Abel, earned a walk and also advanced to second on a steal. With two players in scoring position with one out, Barker struck a single that batted in Williams and Abel to give Oceanside a 2-0 lead.
Ladysmith battled back in the second inning to tie it up 2-2 and went on to take a 3-2 lead at the end of the third. But in the fifth, Ladysmith’s pitching started to falter as Ethan Harvey, Nic Goodman and Sam Atagi reached home plate to give Oceanside the lead again 5-3.
In the top of the seventh, Williams got on base when he was hit by a pitch. Abel earned a walk to put Oceanside in scoring position. Barker again came through with clutch hitting to send Williams and Abel home to make Oceanside’s lead 7-3. In the final inning, Oceanside’s defence came up with good catches to deny Ladysmith any comeback to clinch the title.
Oceanside is coached by Cam Cross, Harold Barker and Darian Budd who were all pleased with their players’ performance.
The team consist of Cobe Coss, Malakye Abel, Nathaniel Abel, Ethan Harvey, Nic Goodman, Brandon Snyder, Daylan Budd, Sam Atagi, Tyler Gill, Scotty Williams, Ty Barker, Justin Geiger, Owen Slocum and Jimmy Shworan.