he 1979 Midget team, under Manager Mike Bennett and
Coach Paul Denomy, consisted of a collection of fine
athletes who excelled in baseball but in other sports as
well. The team was a definite underdog in the All-Ontario
Elimination Tournament held in Hamilton as they competed
against 25 other teams many of which were higher ranked
and were from much larger centres. Backed by strong
pitching and timely hitting, they won their first 4 games
before losing to Windsor Athletic Association. Facing
elimination, they beat Toronto Riverside in the
semi-finals and then beat the same Windsor club 11-5 in
the finals. As a result of winning the Elimination
Tournament the midgets represented Ontario at the Canadian
Midget Baseball Championship held in Niagara Falls. After
going 2-2 in the round robin, which included a 7-4 victory
over the Quebec All Stars who were the eventual champions,
the midgets were relegated to the third place game. In the
bronze medal game, the midgets lost to the host Niagara
Falls team 8-0 and ended up fourth in the tournament. The
Quebec All Stars beat Delta BC 3-2 in the gold medal game.
Team members were:Blake Alward, Bob Arnold, John Bink,
Keith Blackford, Barry Brackett, Wayne Burey, Rod Couture,
Dale Dunlop, Jeff Green, Bruce Hickmott, Chris Kelly,
Steve Kenney, Rick Kucera, Todd Langstaff, Scott Ruttle,
Frank Stoof, Mike Torrie, John Wall, Mike Bennett
(manager), Paul Denomy (coach), and Dave Charbonneau
(batboy).
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