Irish silence Thunder for NCAA crown
Carter Kipp kept things simple on the mound for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Thursday.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student is normally a corner infielder for the Ontario Royals but also helps out occasionally in the pitching department at the high school level.
Kipp tossed four shutout innings as the Irish blanked the Blessed Trinity Thunder 7-0 to capture the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association Zone 3 AAA boys baseball championship at George Taylor Field in St. Catharines.
The Irish now advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) AAA playoffs next week in Dundas. Sir Winston Churchill and Centennial have also qualified.
Kipp, who has committed to play baseball at Niagara University in the fall of 2025, enjoyed toeing the rubber.
“I do it every once in a while in high school. I just go out and try and throw strikes and it worked out,” he said smiling, after posing with his teammates for a team picture at home plate. “I used to pitch when I was younger, now not as much, but I love pitching.
“It’s awesome, especially for this team. It’s a lot of fun playing with these guys.”
Kipp said he didn’t try and overthink things.
“I just went with the fastball. I tried out a slider in the pen but it wasn’t sliding so I just stuck with the fastball and it worked out.”
Kipp said he was confident the Irish would repeat as champions if they played to their potential.
“We knew we were the best team here,” he said. “It was about being fundamentally sound and making the plays on the infield. Our bats spoke for themselves and everyone hit, which was awesome to see.”
Big Tyler Ray came in from the outfield and got the last nine outs.
“Really, just throw strikes and not get as many baserunners,” the 16-year-old, Grade 11 student said when asked how he approached his role Thursday. “I’ve done it before and it didn’t go the right way. You can blow big leads even. It’s not easy at all but we had the defence behind us which is always a great thing.”
ND head coach Bob Jarrett was thrilled for his charges.
“Very good ball club with great leadership from our senior guys,” he said. “We have a lot of young guys on this team now and it’s going to be their team next year.
“It’s a baseball IQ team, a very smart team. They know how to play and it’s about making the basic plays.”
The Thunder defeated Notre Dame 11-5 earlier in the season.
“We expected everything from BT today,” Jarrett added. “They are well coached. We’re very similar teams. We lost to them and today it was a complete reversal of roles. We hit today and they put the bat on the ball and put some traffic on us two weeks ago.”
Jarrett singled out the hitting of Ray, Drew Billard, Colton Lafleur, Spencer Burke and Nate Murgic.
“They gave us quality at bats.”
The Irish blanked the Saint Michael Mustangs 10-0 in the semifinals Thursday morning behind the pitching of Will Wales.
“He’s our innings eater, he’s our gator,” Jarrett said. “He threw strikes and filled up the zone and that’s what our plan was so we could throw Carter and Tyler in this game. We needed our best in this game. It is a calculated risk that can burn you in the end but Will’s had a great year as a Grade 12 kid who is all baseball, 100 per cent.”
Thunder coach Dustin Wiley tipped his cap to Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame came out with a positive approach and capitalized on some opportunities and took advantage of our mistakes and were the better team today,” he said. “Both pitchers came out and threw very well for them and we just didn’t get comfortable. They held us off balance.”
The Thunder defeated the Saint Francis Phoenix 13-2 in their semifinal.
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