Marauders rally past Cougars
Jack Shannon put the exclamation point on a dramatic comeback for the A.N. Myer Marauders Thursday.
The 18-year-old, Grade 12 student lined a bases-loaded single over a drawn in outfield to plate the winning run as the Marauders edged the Centennial Cougars 4-3 to capture the Niagara Regional High School Athletic Association varsity boys baseball title at Oakes Park.
“Oh man, that was a close one,” Shannon said. “I think we had a lot of young guys that came through in big situations.
“Those are the fun ones, with the pressure.”
Shannon’s single capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Marauders.
“Just find the right pitch to hit,” said Shannon, who plays for Bullet Proof Baseball. “You get three strikes. I went down 0-1 in the count and I knew he had to come to me again. I just wanted to come through for the boys.”
The Cougars raced out to a 3-0 lead behind the pitching of Hayden Cupolo, who tossed four shutout innings. Offensively, Centennial was led by run-scoring doubles from Jaxson Bruzzese and Colby DesRoches and a RBI single by Zack Robichaud.
Myer began their comeback when Shannon grounded out to score Keenan Bateman, who led off the sixth with a triple. The Marauders then tied the game at 3-3 in the next inning, setting the stage for Shannon’s heroics.
“It was get guys on base, number one,” Buchanan said of the comeback. “That being said, he (Bruzzese) threw enough strikes that we had to swing and then we put the bat on the ball finally. It’s not our strength, to be honest. We play good defence, we pitch pretty well, but we haven’t hit well.”
Shannon tipped his cap to the Cougars.
“They were definitely the underdogs,” he said. “We came into that game expecting to win. You have to give them credit. They worked some good at bats and their pitchers threw really well. Those are the tough ones, the ones you have to really lock in mentally for.”
Myer manager Dave Buchanan also gave props to the opposition.
“I see it happening, this is a good thing. There’s multiple teams that are getting better and better and that’s important,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had three cycles of kids that have been amazing so it’s easy to coach when you have all the best players. Other teams have great players too now and that team has been working hard to get to that point.
“They gave us everything we could handle.”
Cougars manager Stefan Snopak had no regrets.
“The kids played their hearts out and left everything on the table,” he said. “We didn’t beat ourselves. Myer came out and hit their way to victory. Sometimes you have to tip your cap and congratulate the other squad.”
The Cougars defeated Westlane 13-3 earlier Thursday to advance to the final and Snopak feels the program is on the rise.
“We’ve had a strong group coming up for the last two years and we fully expected to challenge,” he said. “We might have been a year ahead of schedule so we’re proud of how far the guys have come this year. We’ve had a couple of close battles with that team over the last couple of weeks and we expect to be back strong next year competing.”
The championship was number “eight or nine,” according to Buchanan.
The Marauders advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) playdowns in Ancaster Tuesday, May 30.
“There are loaded teams in SOSSA. It will be tough to move on but it’s day by day, game by game,” Buchanan said.
Bateman started for Myer and permitted two runs and two hits while fanning six over four innings.
Nico Valvo finished up on the mound, tossing three innings and permitting one run and two hits while striking out five to earn the win.
Bruzzese, who chipped in with a pair of hits, took the loss.
BPSN thanks Brock sports management student Bryce DesRoches for his statistical help with this story.
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