Offence? Check. Pitching? Check. Defence? Oh, yeah.
The Oceanside Peewee Reds AA had everything working Saturday in a 6-0, 13-2 doubleheader sweep of the Campbell River Tyees at Springwood Park.
“We’re firing on all cylinders,” head coach Rob McGorman said after the Reds wrapped up an unbeaten regular season of Vancouver Island play. “It was fantastic.”
The games were the final tune-up for this weekend’s Vancouver Island AA tourney in Victoria.
The following week, Oceanside Minor Baseball will host the Provincial Peewee AA Championships Aug. 6-7 at Springwood Park.
“The stars have kind of aligned,” McGorman said of the timing of the provincial tournament with the rise of the local peewee squad to the top seed on the Island.
The peewees pounded out five home runs in Saturday’s sweep, including two each by Ellis Vugtuveen and Nathaniel Abel. Nash Donkersley blasted a grand slam in the fifth inning of the opener to break open what had been a tight, 2-0 contest.
Nathaniel Abel of the Oceanside peewee AA Reds raps a base hit during the opening game of a doubleheader against the Campbell River Tyees Saturday at Springwood Park in Parksville. — Image credit: J.R. Rardon/PQB NEWS
The second game followed a similar trend, with the visiting Tyees scoring single runs in the third and fourth innings to close within 5-2.
But Abel’s one-out home run in the fifth sparked a four-run inning, and the Reds added four more in the sixth to pull away.
Anson McGorman threw six shutout innings in the opener and Vugtuveen closed it out with a scoreless inning.
Defensive highlights included Reds' right fielder Dawson Meldrum turning not one, but two apparent base hits into 9-3 putouts with throws that beat Tyees runners to first base in the second game.
"We had a number of really good defensive plays," coach McGorman said.
The peewees returned to Springwood Sunday, but it was strictly a day off.
“We’ll play some wiffle ball and have a barbecue with parents,” said McGorman. “No baseball. They can come out and just be kids.”