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Orangeville 8U Minor Rookie Bengals win championship after undefeated season

September 9, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart 

The Orangeville 8U Minor Rookie Bengals have completed an outstanding season going undefeated to win the 2021 8U York Simcoe Baseball Association championship.

It was a short season so the team didn’t get in as many games as they would in a regular season, but when they did play, they put out a stellar effort.

The Bengals won all eight of their regular season games.

The team put up a total of 155 runs, and allowed only 60 runs against.

“Every game we won was a full team effort,” said head coach, Eric Flindall. “I challenged the team to earn a shut-out, and if they completed that challenge, I would have to buy them lunch. The team won their last regular season game 10 – 0 over Aurora forcing me go buy them all lunch.”

On top of the standings at the end of the regular season, the team went to the playoffs.

In the semi-final game they were behind 17-14 to Caledon with two outs in the last inning.

The Bengals powered through to leave the diamond with an 18-17 win to advance to the final game.

In the final, the Bengals were up against the Stouffville Yankees.

The game went back and forth and was a really tight match until the last inning.

The Bengals scored six to enforce the mercy rule that stopped the game and gave the Orangeville team the YSBA championship.

“I would like to elaborate on this being a team effort,” added team manager, Jesse Edmunds. “This goes beyond the dedicated coaching staff and players, this team was more like a ‘Bengals Family’ the entire season. Fundraising efforts by all of the families were amazing, parents showed up early and helped get the diamond prepared, and everyone pitched in wherever they could.

“Last year this team came together as the 7U Allstars for the OHMBA. The first year that an ‘advanced level’ of baseball is offered. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic the 7Us were never able to play a game. However, you can ask any member of this coaching staff – we had something special on our hands. They trained at home through the winter, with the coaches putting together home videos and everyone connected through WhatsApp and email. When we were able to, group sessions (within restrictions) were held at A to Z batting cages, and the players were back on the fields as soon as restrictions allowed. These kids worked hard for the past two years to get to this point, and while they were truly tested in both the semi-final and final, all that hard work paid off and gave them that push they needed to seal the victories.”

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