34 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday August 6, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com IN A CLOUD OF DUST: Dave Venturi of the Oakville Whitecaps slides headfirst into second base as Jack Melkerson of the NDG Lynx takes the throw Monday at the Canadian Senior Little League Championships at River Oaks Park. The Whitecaps rallied from a 5-1 deficit to edge the Montreal team in its final at-bat, winning 6-5. However, Oakville finished the tournament with a 2-3 record and missed out on a playoff berth. Recap FRIDAY NDG Lynx 9, Glace Bay 5 Jeremi Roch drove in five runs and his three-run homer capped a six-run sixth inning as the NDG Lynx rallied from a 5-1 deficit. Whalley 10, Community Park 0 Chris Fischer turned in a dominating performance, pitching four shutout innings, allowing only two hits and striking out nine. Oakville 11, Orleans 3 Pitcher Ryan Tobias helped his own cause, going 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in a pair while allowing only three runs in 5 2/3 innings and striking out eight. SATURDAY Whalley 11, Glace Bay 0 Brian Wearing pitched a four-hit shutout as Whalley ran its shutout string to 10 innings. Connor Nishimura drove in four runs and Chris Brien homered and had 3 RBIs. NDG Lynx 11, Orleans 3 Jeremi Roch homered for the second straight game, had four RBIs and NDG scored seven times in the bottom of the sixth to post its second win of the tournament. Roch also picked up the win, striking out nine in five-plus innings of work. Community Park 9, Oakville 6 Two-run doubles by Kyle Harris and Cody Jennings keyed a seven-run third inning for Community Park, which held off a late rally by the hosts. The result left both teams at 11. SUNDAY Whalley 4, NDG Lynx 3 NDG's David Fitzsimmons was called for a balk with the bases loaded in the seventh innings, allowing Nick Rohla to score the winning run. NDG had trailed 3-1 but scored twice in the sixth to tie the game. Glace Bay 10, Oakville 6 Glace Bay scored three times in the fifth and four more in the sixth to record its first win of the tournament. Mitchell Campbell drove in four runs for Glace Bay and Jeff Conn hit his second homer of the tournament. Ryan Tobias homered for Oakville and Christian Simone had two doubles. Community Park 8, Orleans 7 Byron Turba doubled home the game-winning run in the first extra inning as Community Park survived a scare to improve to 2-1. Orleans scored three times two of them coming in on Jason Foucault's single -in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings. MONDAY Whalley 20, Orleans 0 Chris Fischer went 4-for-4 and scored three times and Adam Quan, Brian Wearing and Chris Brien, who hit his second homer of the tournament, each drove in three runs. Atkinson and Tanner Morache combined on the shutout. Oakville 6, NDG Lynx 5 Kyle Paterson's RBI single scored Ryan Tobias with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Tobias then came on in relief, picked off a runner and struck out two to shutdown the Lynx a preserve a win that kept Oakville in the playoff hunt. Glace Bay 8, Community Park 2 Jeff Conn allowed only two hits over 6 2/3 innings and struck out 10 while at the plate he belted a two-run homer to help Glace Bay square its record at 2-2. The win created a log-jam in the standings with Glace Bay, Community Park, Oakville and the NDG Lynx all sitting a 2-2. TUESDAY Whalley 20, Oakville 0 Brandon Bufton pitched a two hitter as Whalley posted its fourth shutout in five games and remained unbeaten. Justin Atkinson went 4-for-4 and scored four times. Chris Fischer, Bufton and Nic Buse each drove in four runs. NDG Lynx 3, Community Park 1 Matthew Chiovitti went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and Remel Cris-Ong allowed only one run over six innings as NDG secured a playoff berth and, in the process, eliminated Oakville from the tournament. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER Oakville falls just short of playoffs By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Oakville Whitecaps proved they belonged among the best teams in Canada but fell just short of having a chance to take a run at a national championship. The host Whitecaps won two of their five games this week at the Canadian Senior Little League Championships. Oakville had the daunting task of defeating British Columbia's Whalley Chiefs in their final game to guarantee themselves a playoff spot. Whalley had outscored its opponents 45-3 before Tuesday morning's meeting with ON DECK THIS WEEK IN OAKVILLE SPORTS Wednesday, 2:30, 6:30 p.m. River Oaks Park, Sixth Line Quarterfinal games at the 2008 Canadian Senior Little League Championships. Thursday, 6:05 p.m. River Oaks Park, Sixth Line Semifinal game at the 2008 Canadian Senior Little League Championships. Friday 2 p.m. River Oaks Park, Sixth Line Championship game at the 2008 Canadian Senior Little League Championships. Oakville. Though Oakville was coming off an exciting 6-5 victory Monday over Montreal's NDG Lynx, it wasn't meant to be against Whalley. The Chiefs jumped on Oakville for six runs in the first inning on its way to a 20-0 victory. "You look back historically and they've won almost every second year," said Oakville coach Don Nunns. "They draw from a lot of young talent and they've had a very successful program for many years. Despite the loss, Oakville still had a chance to advance if both Community Park and Glace Bay won Tuesday afternoon. Instead, NDG delivered a little payback, winning 3-1 over Community Park to eliminate the Whitecaps. Oakville's victory over NDG proved to be one of the most exciting games of the tournament. Needing a win to keep its playoff hopes alive, the Whitecaps rallied from a 5-1 deficit to edge the Lynx in the seventh inning. "It was probably the best game we've played this year," said Nunns. Oakville tied the game with a four-run rally in the fifth inning and Kyle Paterson brought home Ryan Tobias with a base hit in the top of the seventh to give Oakville the lead. The Whitecaps still had to hold the Lynx, who got the leadoff runner on base. Tobias picked him off, though and then fanned backto-back batters to secure the win, evening Oakville's record at 2-2. David Venturi was 2-for-3 and scored twice for Oakville while Andrew Filler and Tobias combined to pitch four scoreless innings to keep the Whitecaps in the game. Oakville's other victory came in its opening game of the tournament as it beat the Ontario champion, Orleans, convincingly 11-3. Oakville trailed 1-0 in the fourth inning until an unusual turning point took place. "We started a little slow," said Nunns. "The guys were a little nervous but then in the fourth inning our base coach (Hank Tobias) was trying to avoid a runner and a thrown ball and he stumbled and went down. The crowd roared and that seemed to break the tension and the bats came alive." Oakville scored four runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth. Ryan Tobias was 3-for-4 and scored twice. Daryll Nunns and Christian Ruediger also scored twice and Will Brandis and Kyle Paterson each drove in a pair. Oakville again proved they could compete as they faced Community Park in their second game, but one bad inning cost them a chance to post back-to-back victories. Community Park scored seven times in the third and won 9-6. "So many times that one bad inning can bite you," Nunns said. Christian Simone homered and drove in four runs and Jonathan Del Pozo was 2-for-4 and drove in a pair. Glace Bay rallied on Sunday to beat Oakville 10-6, taking advantage of errors to score three in the fifth and four in the sixth. Simone, Will Brandis and Del Pozo were each 2-for-3 and Simone had two doubles. Whalley finished the round robin in first place with a 5-0 mark. It will play in the second quarterfinal game today (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m. Final seedings depended on the outcome of Tuesday's final round-robin game. The championship game will be played Friday at 2 p.m. at River Oaks Park. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER SPECIAL DELIVERY: Jonathan Del Pozo releases a pitch Monday in the Oakville Whitecaps' 6-5 win over the NDG Lynx.