Silver lining for Myer
There are no regrets for the A.N. Myer Marauders after coming home with a silver medal from the OFSAA boys baseball championships in London.
The Marauders dropped a 7-6 decision to Humberside Collegiate from Toronto in the gold medal game after defeating Halton 6-5 in the semifinals earlier in the day.
“For sure you’re pleased with it,” Myer coach Dave Buchanan said. “Looking back, I told the boys what-ifs are a waste of time. You celebrate the good times and the good moments and the achievement that you made.
“At the end of the day it was a great achievement. After the game they were upset but they’ll look back and think it was pretty cool.”
The Marauders, who were making their first trip to the medal round at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships, topped Christ the King from Halton to advance.
“They’re a strong team and we got on them early and held on for a nail-biter at the end,” Buchanan said. “Then you’re advancing and thinking you have chance at a gold medal, with is extremely rare.”
In the final, Myer fell behind 7-0.
“We weren’t playing well,” Buchanan said. “I felt our pitcher (Willy Jackman) was doing fine. He was doing what he needed to do. They were on him a little bit but we made some errors at the wrong time.
“He came out at 5-0 and we had a couple guys on base and made some mistakes and it was 7-0.”
The Marauders then mounted a rally.
“You’re trying to motivate your team and in the fifth inning a couple of guys stepped up and got them going, and before you know it, we’re in a 7-6 game,” Buchanan said. “We couldn’t close it but at the end of the day it showed the resiliency of the team. That what we discovered with this group, that resiliency and that ability to come back and stick in games and grinding it out. That’s what winning teams do.”
The medal was the first team silver in school history to go with two golds in soccer and two in curling.
“It is a wicked achievement,” Buchanan said. “We understand how hard it is to get there. We’ve been on the end of extra-inning losses to go to the medal round twice. You have to have luck on your side and have some things go your way.
“Every achievement we have had, with any winning team no matter how good they are, we’ve had some luck go our way to get there.”
Buchanan said while the success was a team effort with contributions from a lot of different people, Owen Diodati really stepped up his game.
“Owen Diodati was our guy. He took it upon himself at moments to throw the team on his shoulders and he won our MVP. He told me he’s played on some significant teams already in his young life and this team was just as important as any team he’s played on.”
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