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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 29, 1989 -- 31 Final inning heroics give team the A Division League crown For the first time ever, the Greenbank Gamblers have cap- tured the Oshawa City and District "CA" Division Championship. . But it took a sensational com- from-behind rally in the final in- ning of the final game to give . Gamblers the title 11-10, over the Oshawa Merchants in the tourna- ment held on the weekend in Stouffville. The final was anything but a "classic," but as the old saying goes, 'it's not how, it's how many." For the Port Perry XL Eagles, the season came to an end as they were knocked from the tourna- ment with lones to Greenbank and Stouffville. The battle for top spot in the Oshawa City and District Fastball League went right down to the wire with Greenbank and Stouff- ville Betz Pools finishing deadlocked with 38 points each. However the Gamblers were awarded first place by virtue of winning 3 of the 5 League Games they played against Stouffville. So in the League Championship Tournament held in Stouffville park on Saturday and Sunday, Greenbank drew a first round bye with Port Perry Eagles, downing the Oshawa Juniors and the Oshawa Merchants edging out The Greenbank Gamblers are champions of the "A" DI- vision In the Oshawa City and District Fastball League. But the team had to pull off some last second heroics during the final game of the tournament held over the weekend In Stouffville. (see article) This was the first time the Gamblers have won the League Crown. This coming weekend, the team will return to Stouffville for the OASA Senior B play- Stouffville Betz Pools. Greenbank met Port Perry in their first game and defeated the Eagles by a 5-1 score with Mark Goreski the winning pitcher, and John Jeffs and Don Beaton each having three hits during the game. Rodd Real had three RBI's for the Gamblers. Lawrie Williams was the losing pitcher but he contributed three hits to the Port Perry attack as did third sacker Steve Durham. In the Gamblers second game on Saturday, Mark Goreski threw a nifty two hit shutout at the Oshawa Merchants in a 7-0 vic- tory. Mark Goreski, Trevor Till, Paul Goreski and Don Beaton each had a pair of hits for the win- ners with Terry Till, John Jeffs and Rodd Real adding singles. To say that everything looked like roses for Greenbank at this point would be an understatement as the Gamblers could sit and wait for someone to play in the final and then the survivor would have to beat the Gambler squad twice. However nothing in life in fastball is ever easy as the Green- bank team would soon find out. Sunday moring saw Stouffville eliminate Port Perry Eagles as the Port squad played a shoddy first inning and gave Stouffville an early 3-0 lead, which they nurs- downs. Team members, front from left: John Foster, Rod Real, Ken Goreski, Steve Foster, Hugh Johnston, Terry Till, George Redshaw. At back standing from left: sponsor Lloyd Lee, John Jeffs, Brian Till, Don Beaton, Dennis Ewan, Tre- vor Till, Mark Goreskli, Fred Cockerton, Paul Goreskl, Russ Korbak, general manager Rod Foster. Not present when photo taken, Don Phinney. After defeating opposition two straight Port Squirts advance OASA final Port Perry Squirt Legion Branch 419 has advanced to the 0.A.S.A. Tournament to be held at New Hamburg on September 2 & 3. Port will represent this zone by defeating Campbellford two straight games. Port's first game was at Camp- bellford on August 9 at which time Campbellford won the coin toss in the event a third game was re- quired. This game was a nail bit- ting contest for the fans and coaching but Port's determina- tion won out and the final score was 7-5. Port scored 3 runs in the first, two in the second, one in the fourth and one in the fifth. Doing the hitting were Ian Shrigley - 1 'single & scored three times, Bil- ly Zaparanuik - 1 homerun, 1 tri- ple, 2 R.B.1., Kenton LeFort - 1 single & scored once, Craig Laird - 1 single, 1 R.B.I. and scored once, Jeremy Geer - 1 double & scored once, Mike Reader - 1 R.B.L, Collin Meiserink - 1 single and Matt Morris - 1 single & 1 R.B.I. This playoff game was seven innings. Billy Zaparanuik went the distance striking out 7 batters and Port's defensive teammates kept Campbellford's players from scoring any more than five runs in this game. Game two was at Port August 10 and the team was again deter- mined to win this game to avoid travelling to Campbeliford for the third game if necessary. With the fans support and en- couragement Port scored the first run in the first inning, three in the third, and three more in the fourth inning. Behind the defensive play they only allowed Campbellford to score one in the fourth, fifth ® and seventh innings. The final score was Port 7 -- Campbeliford 3. Doing the hitting were Craig Laird - 1 single & scored one, Ian Shrigley - 1 single, 1 double, 4 R.B.1., Kenton LeFort - 2 singles, Billy Zaparanuik - 3 singles, 1 R.B.I1., Mike Reader - 1 single, 1 R.B.I.,, Matt Hobbs - 1 single, Jeremy Geer - 2 singles, Matt Kay - 1 single, Stewart Bruce - 1 single, Matt Morris - 1 single and Daryl Bourgeois - 1 single and scored once. Pitching the innings in this game was Billy Zaparanuik recording 5 strike-outs and again the team played a tremendous defensive game allowing only 3 runs against. Port Perry Legion will now be the "C" representatives at New Hamburg in the 0.A.S.A. Tour- manent, Good Luck to the team. Magic momenf for the Gamblers ed through to a 4-1 final win. Then Oshawa Merchants and Stouffville met in the semi final and Oshawa handed Stouffville their second loss in the double knock-out tournament, with a close 4-3 victory. This set the stage for a Green- bank - Oshawa final with Oshawa needing to defeat the Gamblers twice for the Oshawa City and District "A" Championship. In the four years the Gamblers have played in the Oshawa "A" League they have finished in first place or tied for first place every year. Also they have reached the final game in every year but have lost some heart breaking final games and had never brought home the tournament championship. In the first game of the final it looked like history would repeat itself as the Oshawa Merchants thumped the Gamblers by a 7-0 score. Nothing went right for the Greenbank team and even though they collected seven hits during the contest they failed to put a run on the scoreboard. Russ Korbak took the loss on the Greenbank mound with John Logeman pick- ing up the win for Oshawa. In the final game Logeman again started for Oshawa with Mark Goreski opposing him of the hill for Greenbank. This time around the Gamblers appeared on their way to the league championship as after three complete innings the Green- bank bats had sent Logeman to the showers and held a comfor- table 4-1 lead. But in the Oshawa half of the fourth inning the "wheels come off' for Greenbank as Oshawa sent ten men to the plate and scored seven times to take a com- manding 8-4 lead. Some mediocre defensive play by the Gamblers and a sore pit- ching arm by Gambler starter Mark Goreski led to the big inn- ing for Oshawa and it looked like Greenbank were "down for the count." Russ Korbak relieved Mark Goreski and when the Gamblers scored three in their half of the fourth to make the score 8-7 for Oshawa the game was again up for grabs. In the fifth inning Barry McKenna belted a two run homer and Oshawa took a 10-7 lead which they carried into the bot- tom half of the last inning. With their back to the wall, George Redshaw led off the last inning with an infield hit. Mark Goreski returned to the game to bat for Russ Korbak and lined a shot off the first basemans glove to put runners on first and third. Dave Bacon was in the game run- ning for Redshaw and scored when Terry Till drilled his fourth hit of the game to narrow the score to 10-8. Trevor Till laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases and John Jeffs promptly singled up the middle to score both Goreski and Till and the score was tied. With the Oshawa infield drawn (Turn to page 32)