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Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012 31 but we did exercises to help with strength." OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF Intimidated by physical teams Four days prior to the Ontario early in the year, the Vytis held its Basketball Association champion- ground against Milton and ships, Oakville Vytis bantam girls Newmarket, two provincial oppocoach Bill Hanes organized a game nents who played that style. Oakville's against Milton to improvement was help his team pre- "We couldn't throw most evident in pare. anything at them that defending its own Less than a week they hadn't already basket, where it later, he was regretallowed less than ting that decision a seen." 22 points per little. Milton, which game at provinwas not supposed to Oakville Vytis coach c i a l s . be in the same Bill Hanes "Defensively, the bracket as Oakville, girls played excelwas leading the Vytis lent all weekend long," Hanes said. after one quarter of the OBA final. Oakville opened pool play with "We couldn't throw anything at them that they hadn't already seen," a 27-14 win over Pelham and followed that with a 42-25 victory Hanes said. The coach gathered his players over Etobicoke. Its toughest game and encouraged them to win each of the tournament was the final of the remaining quarters. Sure game of pool play, where the Vytis enough, Oakville took an 11-9 held off Newmarket for a 29-27 advantage into the half and never win. Oakville then secured its spot in looked back. Forcing turnovers and executing on fast breaks, Oakville the final with a 30-22 victory over claimed the Division 4 gold medal Newmarket in the semifinals. Members of the Vytis team are with a comfortable 29-19 victory. Hanes, who helped out at team Darcy Large, Kirsten MacLeod, practices two years ago before tak- Maggie Curran, Olivia Hobbs, ing over as head coach last year, Samantha Baptie, Julia Knez, Alexa said the two areas in which the Duric, Reanna Frois, Amanda Byj, team improved the most were high- Lauren Farrugia, Katie Thom, lighted in the final -- playing under Josipa Curic, and Emma Seese. Trish MacLeod also coaches the pressure and playing against physiteam, and Stuart Large is the mancal teams. "We worked a lot on strength," ager. -- See page 35 for a photo he said. "You can't have them liftof the bantam Vytis ing weights at this age (11 and 12) Vytis bantam girls claim Ontario D4 basketball title Man of many talents ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG PINBALL CAN PLAY DEFENCE, TOO: Michael (Pinball) Clemons (left), an offensive and special teams star during his CFL career with the Toronto Argonauts, shows his defensive abilities in breaking up a pass intended for Patrick Doret (in white). Clemons, former Argos quarterback Damon Allen, current Argo Wayne Smith and former Montreal Alouette Duane Butler all recently suited up for the North Oakville Men's Touch Football Association's annual Ocho Bowl, which raised approximately $7,000 for the Michael Pinball Clemons Foundation. Consistent results move Hinchcliffe into third place in IndyCar standings Two weeks after earning his first podium finish, Oakville's James Hinchcliffe had his worst result of the IndyCar season. That's not necessarily a bad thing, given the consistent results he's produced so far in his second season. Hinchcliffe finished sixth in Sunday's Sao Paulo Indy 300 in Brazil, the fourth straight race he has finished sixth or better. That already matches his four top-six finishes from last year when he was the circuit's rookie of the year. "If we're not thrilled with a sixthplace finish that means we're doing something right," he said. Hinchcliffe qualified fourth but fell back as far as 11th in the early going as his car struggled as a light rain fell early in the race. "We didn't have the right car for the really slick conditions in the beginning and we fell like a stone, Hinchcliffe said. "It's a credit to these Go Daddy guys, we just never give up. As the track dried out the car really came to us and we had the car back that we had yesterday ­ we set the third quickest lap and the car was hauling." "If you had told us before the race started that we were going to finish sixth I would have been pretty disappointed," he added. "But if you told me after the first (pit) stop that we were going to finish sixth I probably would have been pretty pleased with that." Hinchcliffe moved up two spots to third in the overall driver standings with 123 points. He now sits behind Will Power (180), winner of the last three races, and Helio Castroneves (135). His Andretti Autosport teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay is fourth with 121 points. James Hinchcliffe