Sports

4-0 win over Aurora — Brewers claim fifth consecutive NDBL title

September 27, 2013   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
It was a history-making game.
The Bolton Brewers have done what no other team in the North Dufferin Baseball League (NDBL) has ever accomplished.
They won the league title for the fifth consecutive season after a 4-0 win over the Aurora Jays last Thursday (Sept. 19), taking the best-of-seven championship series in five games.
Other teams have come close.
Creemore captured the title four times, with the last one being in 2008, and Shelburne held the cup from 1957 to 1960, but this is the first time a club has managed to hold on for the fifth year.
The Brewers were leading 3-1 in the final series heading into Thursday’s game. It was a game that almost didn’t happen after the lights at the south diamond in North Hill Park failed to light up.
Calls to the Town resulted in the lights at the north diamond being switched on — without explanation and the entire ball game, with fans in tow, moved to the other field.
The move wasn’t well received by everyone, in light of the fact that the north diamond is considerably smaller with the centre field fence flagged at only 338 feet — a fact that could have dramatically change the dynamics of the game, considering the Bolton squad is known as a team that can find the fence in larger venues.
The game, however, had to be played.
After three innings the match was scoreless.
The Brewers started off with a solid hit to left field by player-coach Mike Wallace that landed him on first base. Wallace advanced to third on a nice hit from Eric Cirone. With one out, Adam Wallace hit a blooper that dropped right in the middle of four Aurora players. That error cost the first run of the game, when Mike Wallace made it across home plate.
Bolton went ahead by two in the fifth inning when a return throw to the Aurora pitcher went high and gave Brett Chater the seconds he needed to make the dash from third base to score.
Eric Cirone notched run number three for the Brewers with a single home run over the right field fence.
The game ended with a single from Trent Barwick that drove in the final Bolton run.
The championship capped a stellar season for the Bolton squad, who ended the regular campaign with a 23-3 record and lost only one game in the entire playoff run.
“It was a great series, very close,” said coach Wallace. “You had teams scoring runs, and a dominant pitching force. I think the underlying theme of the series would be teams being able to take advantage of the other team’s mistakes, and I think that’s what we did tonight. They (Aurora) left a lot of guys on base. Thankfully they didn’t capitalize on their chances and we took advantage of ours.”
Wallace was philosophical when it came to the fact that the club is now the all-time league winners.
“I always tell the guys, treat it like it’s your last one, because you never know when you’ll get back here.”
The Brewers played a dedicated season with a full roster of players and are known for having a lot of depth when it comes to fielding a squad.
The North Dufferin Baseball League is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continuous baseball leagues in Canada having played its first season in 1931.

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