Congratulations to the Layritz 11/12 year old Baseball Tournament Team who are the District 7 Champions. The Provincial 11/12 Baseball Tournament hosted by Coquitlam Little League in Vancouver, started July 24 with Layritz losing a heartbreaker to White Rock 11-10. White Rock scored 3 runs in the sixth to take the lead and unfortunately our boys could not get the tying run home from 2nd base. Sunday was another great game, but another loss. Winning 4-2 vs Hastings after 4 innings, we could not hold off their powerful bats and ended up losing 8-4. Monday started well with Evan Badry hitting a 3-run homer in the 1st inning and Brennan Nazaruk pitching well. Sadly, no more offence ensued afterwards. Final score: Dunbar 5, Layritz 3. Tuesday we started poorly and it cost us. 9-0 West Vanc. after 2 innings. We battled back to make it 11-7 and had bases loaded with one out in the bottom of 6 but the rally stalled. What a game Thursday. Playing poorly with only 10 players( 2 of whom are playing hurt) and down to Trail 4-0 in the 5th inning. Four runs that inning followed by a 3-run home run from Mike Potter to now lead 7-4. Trail scores to tie it up 7-7 after 5 innings and no scoring in the 6th. Mitch Meek hits a towering home run with 2 outs in the 7th to lead us to a 8-7 victory and keep our slim chances of a playoff berth. The heartbreak kids keep it going! Down 4-0 after three innings, Layritz rallies to lead 7-5 after 5 innings paced by the double and home run by Nick Seginowich and by Brodie Menard's 2-run, 2-out hit and his throw out at second base from the right field fence. Mitch Meek hits a 2-run tater in the top of six to lead 9-5. Mike Potter comes into close the bottom of six after the bases were loaded with no outs. He induces a double play ball to Tanner Hess and a ground out to snuff out the rally and we win 9-5. Coquitlam beats Hastings 2-1 Saturday in a disputed game to eliminate Layritz from further play. However strange the last game, four straight losses at the start proved to be our demise. A fun week for all despite the weird ending and all the injuries and strange occurrences to the players and families.
2009 11/12 Fastball Tournament Team
After two years of not participating in major softball tournaments, the Layritz girls decided that it was time to get back into the game. While on balance they are a relatively young team, their aspirations for success were backed up by a commitment to work hard. The whole team practiced Monday to Friday from 9 till noon for five weeks in preparation for their games. By the time the district / provincial tournament rolled around they were a lean, mean, green, hitting machine and took on Hampton Little League in a best of three final’ The Layritz girls took the game to Hampton and ended the series in two straight wins. This win allowed the team to move onto the Canadian Championships representing B.C and hosted by Beacon Hill Little League. At Beacon Hill,the girls faced very tough competition from more experienced teams. Beacon Hill (host), East Central Alberta (Prairies), and South Windsor (Ontario) all had participated at last year’s national championship. Those teams all carried forward many of the same players from last years tournament and thus had a better appreciation of what to expect than did the Layritz team. Heading into the round robin tournament, the coaches decided that the schedule and pitching restrictions would not allow the use of the team’s strongest defensive combinations and in the result came up short in each preliminary game. During the preliminary round of games, it became clear that no one team was likely to dominate and all teams earned the respect of the others. Layritz heading into the playoff round ranked forth faced the top seeded team - Beacon Hill. In this semi-final contest, both teams were ahead at various points during the game. In the 5th, Layritz, after giving up the lead, came back and went ahead by 3. In the bottom of 6, Beacon Hill scored one, loaded the bases with 1 out but ultimately could not get past the Layritz defense. “Hails” pitched 6 innings for the win. The final had Layritz up against the team from Ontario. The Windsor South Canadians had finished second at the Canadian championship the previous year, so their appearance in this years final was not a surprise. The Layritz team put everything into the game, being cheered on by the Layritz community, their Alberta team billets and our family and friends. Jenna pitched the game of her life throwing a complete game no-hitter. The game was scoreless going into the third inning when Ontario managed to squeak out a run on a walk and aggressive base running. The Layritz bats were silenced by strong Ontario pitching. The Team was disappointed but ended up with the Silver medal, valuable tournament experience, a lot of new friends and a summer to remember. The team included Allie P, Alex P, Alyssa Z, Bre D, Daria P, Georgia “ The Manatee” M, Hailey Y, Jenna S, Kaitlyn T, Natalie C, Nicole A, Rachel H, and Raven M. The team was lead by Manager Ron Myers and coaches Ray Young and Paul Tucker. Special thanks to Mark Ward and Dave Murdock for the sliding clinic, Ann Myers for keeping us organized and hosting our team get-togethers and especially the girls families for cheering and commitment to the team throughout the summer.
2009 9/10 Baseball Tournament Team
Over twenty players came to tryout for the 2009 edition of the Layritz 9-10 Baseball All-star team. With only two returning players, and less than a handful of Major’s players, we all knew the task ahead was daunting. After deliberating, the coaching staff of Manager Dave Potter, Coaches Troy Carter, Mark Baxter, and Chris Walt, chose 13 players to represent our park. By the end of it all, the results showed they chose the right team. The first game did not start off on the right foot with Central Saanich loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning. We calmed down and ended up giving up only one run. The bats were quiet (except for Colton Harold) this game, but the pitching settled down sending us to a 5-2 victory. The next day Lakehill was the opponent. Again, we started slow on the mound but the bats came alive and eventually a 23-12 victory ensued. The boys now had two games under their belts, and were ready to roll. The next game was against Esquimalt and Layritz came ready to play anticipating a tougher contest than in the previous days. To our delight our pitching held Esquimalt to only one hit and the bats were solid hammering out a 10-0, 4-inning victory. The well respected Hampton team was looming next. A back and forth well-played game finished with a 9-4 victory for Layritz. Now 4-0, Layritz was up next against the like undefeated Beacon Hill in the battle for first place. Again the bats were strong, the pitching was great, and it was over again in 4 innings after a 17-4 victory. The playoffs were next. Esquimalt was our foe in the semi-finals and the coaches told the boys it would not be another 10-0 victory as in the round-robin, fully believing Esquimalt had the talent to make for a rough day at the park . The team made liars out of the coaches. Masterful pitching by Gio Walt and strong hitting from all, led to another 10-0 victory with Jacob Moss getting the clinching RBI-double in the fourth inning. Hampton, after just squeezing past Beacon Hill awaited Layritz in the final. Once again, the players were told it would not be another 10-0 game, and again, they made the coaches into liars. A 0-0 game after one inning and 2-0 lead after two innings blew wide open in the fourth inning with 5 runs leading us to a 10-0 victory in the final. Jacob Potter threw a no-hitter over the four innings and also contributed three doubles. The talents that came out all tournament was our solid pitching, aggressive base running (led by Ryan Cleaver and Brandon Cowan), and solid defense. The infield which mainly consisted of C - Jacob Potter and Justice Carter, 1B - Ryan Christenson and Jordan Macdougall, 2B - Andrew Baxter, SS - Jacob Moss, and 3B - Colton Harold never made an error in all the games. As well, the outfield (which also included Ryan Broughton), made the needed catches and were extremely solid. We were off to Vancouver as District 7 champions, but the competition was extremely strong at the BC Provincial Championships. Playing against players who had mostly played tournament baseball for 2-3 years, we were overmatched having a team of which the majority were Minors. That being said, the boys kept trying and made us all proud. And, definitely, there was some proud moments for the coaching staff. Joel Barton made some wonderful plays at second base. Justice Carter was incredible as our pitcher in our last game versus Little Mountain, the round-robin champs. The game was scoreless through four innings until they finally went onto victory. Against perennial powerhouse White Rock, which beat us in a lopsided win, all our pitchers were Minors players and all kept their heads high and kept battling. Ryan Christenson, Andrew Baxter, Jordan Macdougall, and Joel Barton made the coaches so proud with their attitudes that all those attending had to be impressed by their maturity. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES BOYS!! We will see you next season.
2009 9/10 Fastball Tournament Team
The 2009 Layritz Minor Softball team won the District 7 Championship, defeating Hampton 13-2 in the final game. This group of tournament rookies worked extremely hard to prepare for the tournament and their preparation paid off. The girls were fast out of the gate and never slowed down. Their motto was speed and hustle and they showed it in every aspect of the game.
Their defence was amazing, allowing only 10 runs in the tournament. The stellar gloves of Mckenna Has, Ashley Van Somer, Alley Bushby, Gillian Goldsworthy, Jessica Douglas, Andie Stevens, Rachel Bobroske, and Sarah Shubrook kept the opposition off the bases. The defence, of course, got help from the amazing pitching of Ashley Cathro, Jessica Saulnier, and Emily Charchuk, backstopped by the very solid catching of Ashley Volk and Simrin Purewel.
This team’s offense was just as amazing, scoring a staggering 42 runs. Every girl hit the ball hard, ran the bases aggressively, and stole home like a professional. This offensive powerhouse was exemplified by Ashley Volk, who hit an inside-the-park home run to end the championship game. Coaches Kevin, Mike, and Alan would like to thank the parents and other coaches who helped at the practices, and all the relatives and friends who came out to cheer on the girls during the tournament. But most of all, they would like to thank the tournament team girls — you were a pleasure to coach and your sportsmanship was second to none!
We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia
and thank them in assisting us in providing a great program for our kids and our community.
