Stingers capture U12 provincial title
The Beamsville Stingers are building a dynasty.
The Stingers captured their second straight Ontario Baseball Association championship and third in the last four years when they topped Woodstock 15-14 in the gold medal game at the U12 B championships held in Chatham.
The Stingers won the rookie ball D championship in 2019 and the B/C title last year. There was no championship held in 2020 due to COVID.
“That’s our goal at the beginning of every year, that’s what we strive to accomplish,” Stingers head coach Dustin Wiley said. “Sometimes it’s going to happen, sometimes it’s not, but that’s what we set our sights on.”
Wiley, who is assisted by Kurt Whitnell, Greg Walker, Tim Bonehill, Harley Thompson and manager Jen Thompson, said the group doesn’t take winning for granted.
“There’s a lot of pride that comes along with it,” he said. “It’s not just for myself and the coaching staff. It’s the parents, the players putting in the time and effort and buying in even when there are times of adversity.
“We have a close knit group. The chemistry is top shelf and I believe that goes a long way. I have the easy part, just going out and coaching. Getting them here there and everywhere is half the battle.”
This year’s group was almost identical to previous teams.
“We have two new kids this year but the nucleus has been the same all the way through,” Wiley said. “We moved up an age group and were short a couple of players and had a couple of younger kids stay back.”
Wiley feels having so many players who have been through the pressure of OBAs was crucial.
“That experience goes a very, very long way. It puts us in positions not to get too high or too low because we’ve been there,” he said. “Even though we lost a game to St. Thomas — I think it was our fifth game — we had to play them right after and we beat them.
“It’s a positive outlook and after you win one or two, a lot of the teams are gunning for you and that puts an added element into things as well.”
All 11 players contributed.
“We had every single player on our team expect one pitch their maximum amount of pitches allotted,” Wiley said. “We had two individuals who pitched in championship game, one had zero innings pitched and the other one had one inning.”
Members of the Stingers are: Cash Wiley, Lucas Whitnell, Jake Lamb, Brayden Walker, Carter Thompson, Robert Cormier, Aiden Spencer, Cole Kirchner, Maddox Gerow, Chase Schilstra and Koren Fife.
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