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Rockies wrap up season in NDBL championship series

August 23, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Rockies are done for the season after playing in the North Dufferin Baseball League Junior Division Championship against the Ivy Blues.

Ivy won the championship with an 8 – 4 win over the Rockies in the final game on Sunday, August 18, at Princess of Wales Park in Orangeville.

The Rockies finished in second place in the regular season with a 9 – 6 – 1 record.

They knocked out the Orillia Royals in two games in the opening round of the playoffs to advance to the final series against Ivy.

Ivy finished in first place in the League with a 13 -2 -1 record.

In the final series, Ivy got the edge in game one squeezing out a one run win when they played a 4 – 3 game in Tottenham on August 7.

Game two of the series ended with a 10 – 2 Ivy win on August 12.

The Rockies staved off the season end with a 6 -2 win in game three in Lisle.

In that game the Rockies had big third inning that gave them 3-1 lead. They finished of with three runs in the seventh to keep the series alive.

Returning to O-ville for game four, the Rockies were pumped to tie the series and force a game five back on Ivy’s home diamond.

The final game saw the Blues take a one run lead in the opening inning, then follow up with a pair of runs in the second.

The Rockies scored in the fourth inning on a double that brought in one run.

Ivy scored in the top of the fifth inning for a two run lead..

Ivy scored four runs in the sixth inning for an 8 – 3 lead with one Orangeville at-bat left.

The final run came in when the Rockies picked up a double and scored on an error at home plate.

The final was an 8 – 4 for Ivy and a junior championship for the Blues.

“We really couldn’t get the bats going. That guy (Ivy pitcher) really shut us down,” said Rockies shortstop Kyle Dalton after the game. “Once we started going we got a few hits. We had a few errors and that cost us at the end.”

Coach Anthony Zambito said he was happy with the way the team did during the season.

“This was a great season. For an inaugural season I’m so impressed with the results. This year we made it the finals and forced a game four. We won on Friday night and played two good games in OBA’s. Obviously it wasn’t the result we wanted today but the team has really shown their commitment. It was really hard to get the boys sparked in this game, but all we needed was that lead off double from James Clubine to set the boys and the gave us some momentum for the rest of the game.”

The Senior division of the NDBL is currently in the second round of playoff with four teams battling it out or a chance to go to the final.

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