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Junior Bengals advance to second round of North Dufferin Baseball League playoffs

August 3, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Junior Bengals will advance to the second round of the North Dufferin Baseball League playoffs after knocking out the Mansfield Cubs in their best-of-three first-round series.

That series got underway on Sunday, July 23, in Orangeville. Game one ended with a 9-0 shut-out for the Bengals.

Game two took place in Mansfield the following day. The series was tied when the Cubs got the bats moving in the later innings and pulled off a 6-5 win.

Game three, the deciding game, took place in Orangeville on Tuesday, July 25.

It was a late start for the game – 8:30 p.m., because the diamond was already booked for another game, and that would have an impact on the final outcome of the game.

Orangeville’s Noah McDonald had a huge hit to deep centre field in the first inning to advance a man to third base and bring in the first run of the night.

In the second, the Bengals had men on first and second. A couple of good hits brought in two runs for the inning to give Orangeville a 3-0 lead.

In the third, Brady Janes, had a huge hit and turned on the after-burners as he rounded second base for a triple. The Bengals scored a single run for a 4-0 lead.

The Bengals were up by six when Ryan Hussey knocked the ball to the right-field fence for a triple and brought in another run.

The game had a decisive turn in the later innings when Mansfield started to score, getting two runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth.

The Cubs scored in the top of the seventh and trailed by a single run with two men on base and only one out.

Prior to the start of the inning, the umpires brought it to the attention of the coaches, that the diamond lights may be timed to go out at 11:00 p.m. The crowd started keeping an eye on their timepieces.

Eleven o’clock came and went and everyone was hopeful, but at around 11:05, the lights cut out.

Following league rules, the lights going out are considered the same as a game being called for darkness. The game final, then went to the last completed inning, meaning the game was recorded as a 6-4 win for the Bengals.

The Bengals will now advance to the second round of the NDBL playoffs and will be up against the Creemore Padres.

This will also be a best-of-three series.


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