'V 'I ~ AUGUST 26,1987 SPORTS '4 .W ~ Midgets will go to provincials Steady improvement after a poor season start has carried Whitby's midget baseball team to the On- tario championships to be held in Streetsville over the Labor Day weekend. "We started out disastrously," says coach Sam Dempster of the team's nine losses in 12 games to begin the regular schedule. "But basically we jLst started to get bet- ter all-round. Only three players had been really consistent but later they all were." After the 12th game, Whitby then managed 12 wins in their next 17 games. The team finished in seven- th place (Port Hope was first) and didn't make the league playoffs but won four straight in the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association playoffs to represent the league at the provincial A championships. "It's satisfying, Ill tell you," says Dempster, who dealt with player shortages and "defections" throughout the season. The team now has il players, down from 15. In the EOBA playdowns, Whitby won a best-of-three with Pickering' in two straight games and followed with two straight wins over Kingston. Lefthander Jeff Hardy went the distance in a 7-6 win in the first game in Kingston Aug. 15. Whitby scored the winning run on a passed ball in the sixth inning. On Sunday at Iroquois Park in Whitby, Chris Harris got the vic- tory on the mound in an 18-5 score. Providing some of the support for Harris was Brad Chalmers with four runs-batted-in, Kevin Mitchell with three singles and three RBI's, Colin Dempster with a triple and single, and Mike Macapagal with a double and single. Harris had two singles. Coach Dempster describes his pitching as "pretty consistent" this season. Hardy won six games, Harris four and the third starter, Chalmers, had five victories. A strong offence explains much of the team's success. Lead-off hit- ter Colin Dempster is batting .422 this season, and has scored 38 runs in 27 games. Macapagal, who plays either behind the plate or in the out- field, has a lefty season batting average of .456 and bats third. Chalmers is hitting .365, Darcy Head .333 and Greg Rennie .304. Hardy and Mitchell are also fine hitters. Primeau earns place on Ontario team Keith Primeau of Whitby has earned a place on the 26-player On- tario under-17 team which will take part in an international hockey tournament at Christmas. Primeau, 15, only learned this week that he had made the team af- ter attending training cimp in Ot- tawa two weeks ago. Primeau will also scon begin training camp with the Hamiltnn Steelhawks junior A hockey tearm. The slick centre will take over the Hamilton apartment once occupied by Whitby's Brad Dalgarno, up to now a Steelhawk but likely to join the NHL New York Islanders hockey club. ROB LIGHTLE, shown in the recent league champion- ships, and Steve Dormer handled pitching duties for the Whitby junior baseball team which just narrowly missed a berth in the Ontario championships. Free Press photo Juniors lose in final to Orillia The Whitby junior baseball team season came to a heart-breaking end over the weekend with an 8-7, extra-inning' loss to Orillia in the final playoff game to decide which team would go to the Ontario A championships. For Orillia, the victory in the fifth and deciding game of the best-of- fivé playoff was sweet revenge against the team which had denied them the league championship only a few weeks earlier. But Whitby came close to a trip to the Ontario championships. Whitby performed the same feat it had come up with to tie the series last Thursday in Whitby - climbing back frôm a 5-0 deficit after a shaky start. In the fourth game Thursday, Whitby won 10-7 with Steve Dormer and Rob Lightle sharing pitching duties. And back in Orillia, Scott Burnett belted a two-run home run in the seventh inning to tie the game at 6-6 in support of Lightle who would go all the way. Whitby even took a 7-6 lead in the eighth inning but Orillia tied it up in their half of the same inning. "There wasn't much difference SEE PAGE 24 Bantams sweep series, advance to final EOBA playdown series Whitby Optimist bantam all-stars have won the best-of-three series against Oshawa to advance to the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association (EOBA) championship round against either Peterborough or Ajax. Whitby squeezed out a 13-12 win over Oshawa on Aug. 17 behind the strong pitching of Jamie Watters. who left the game in the seventh in- ning with a 7-5 lead. Darrin Lee came in to relieve Watters and shut Oshawa down until the bottom of the ninth when Oshawa scored five runs to tie the game at 10. However, in the top of the tenth with two out and the bases loaded, Jeremy Har- ness hit a triple to score three runs. Then, in the bottom of the tenth with Harness pitching, Oshawa scored two runs to make it close, but Whitby held on for the win. Whitby lost the second game at home on Aug. 19 by a score of 11-5 with Hartss pitching. The third and deciding game was played in Oshawa on Aug. 20. Whit- by never fell behind, but Oshawa made it close in the bottom of the eigth when they scored two runs to make the final score 9-8. Watters came on in relief of Ja- son Skinner and struck out the final batter. Watters scored the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth with two out on an infield hit by Lee. Oshawa was able to score one run in the bottom of the ninth, but Watters put out the fire with his strong pitching. Bantam coach Gerry Harness said it was "very satisfying" to win the series as Whitby had lost two regular season games to Oshawa. In the three-game series, Scott Horler had seven hits and was out- standing defensively. Harness had six hits and drove in il runs, while Mike Fulton drove in four runs with five hits. Lee and Dave Winchester each had three hits. Lee drove in the winning run in Whitby members Mike Clayton, Jeff John and Ron Balcolm of the Oshawa Vikings each scored a try in a 19-7 win over Ottawa to move the Vikings into the third round of the provincial rugby champion- ship for the Marshall Cup. The Vikings first team also got two conversions and a penalty kick from Doug McConkey in the win Aug. 15 in Oshawa. Vikings next cup game will be Sept. 12 against Barrie, at Lakeview Park in Oshawa. The team was to resume league play this week against Toronto Scottish. Peter Clayton of Whitby scored;a try as the Vikings second team downed Balmy Beach 22-13 in an exhibition game Aug. 15. Wayne Marchment had a try and Ian Thompson had a conversion, drop goal and three penalty kicks. game three. Jason Skinner and Darren Johnston had two hits and two RBI's each. Watters batted in one run, Darryn Christie and Shayne Keddy had a hit each. The Whitby team had advanced to the playoff with Oshawa after defeating Kendal in a best-of-three last week. Thne Vikings under-17 team edged Balmy Beach 12-9 to capture the provincial championship. Gareth Stone had a.try and a con- version and Gareth Pettigrew two penalty kicks for Oshawa which finished the season undefeated. The under-17s will host Arnold School from England Aug. 27-30 and play games against Arnold school teams Aug. 29 at Lakeview Park at 4 and 5:30 p.m. Stacey gets by Traveline Stacey Trucking downed Moose Traveline 8-5 in Old Timers Service Club slo-pitch action Sunday, Aug. 23. Mike -Reuter and Larry Bather- son each had three hits for the win- ners. Gary Stewart got the win. Vikings continue march toward Marshall Cup JAMIE CROUCH of Whitby, along with his partner, Heather Paterson of Hamilton, won a bronze medal in dance during the roller skating event at the Pan American Games which ended last weekend. Roller skating made its debut in this year's games. Canada won 161 medals at this year's games; 30 gold, 57 silver and 74 bronze. Free Press photo 1