swossaa roundup: saints secure swossaa baseball title for first time since 2016
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the st. anne saints celebrate after capturing the team's first swossaa baseball title since 2017 on tuesday after beating the wallaceburg tartans 5-1 at lacasse park.
jim parker
/
the windsor star
tecumseh – the st. anne saints are following an old path that led to gold.
the saints claimed the swossaa baseball title on tuesday with a 5-1 win over the wallaceburg tartans at lacasse park.
the last time the saints claimed wecssaa and swossaa titles in the same season was 2016 and the club would eventually move on to take gold at the ofsaa championship.
“it’s awesome,” said saints’ second baseman nicky macmillan, who drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning. “we were scrappy and i’m glad we came out on top.”
it was a tight match until the saints broke open a 1-1 game with a four-run sixth inning.
“we’ve had some really close games in the playoffs and regular season, so everyone’s used to those tight game,” saints’ manager steve burke said.
the saints got a dominating pitching performance from a trio of players, who combined to allow just two hits to the tartans.
right-hander aaron schwerer started and threw three shutout innings and did not allow a hit. he also scored the game’s opening run in the bottom of the first inning after leading off with a single, stealing second and scoring on a sacrifice fly by jack emery.
right-hander sam katz came on in relief and allowed just one hit in two innings, but it was a solo home run by tartans’ catcher lucas laprise, who had both wallaceburg hits.
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“it was a lot tighter than what i thought,” said the saints’ gavin campbell, who started a first base and threw the final two innings. “we picked up in the middle to the end.”
the saints finally got rolling in the bottom of the sixth inning. no. 9 hitter emmitt richards singled, stole second base and scored when macmillan doubled over the head of the centrefielder to put the saints up 2-1.
“i had a couple rough at-bats to start the game, but that one i just tried to stay calm,” the 16-year-old macmillan said. “just trust yourself in the moment.”
evan schweyer hit a sacrifice fly and nik larose added a two-run single to cap the inning as the saints sent 10 batters to the plate.
campbell would get the win in relief and was dominant over the final two innings. he allowed just an infield single while striking out five batters.
“that’s my whole job, throw strikes,” the 17-year-old campbell said. “i didn’t think they were going to hit it. so, as long as i did my job, good things were going to happen.”
the saints now advance to the west regional next week with a top two finish at that event sending the club to ofsaa.
holy names 2 st. patrick 1 (ot)
the holy names knights needed extra time to secure the swossaa senior girls’ aaa soccer title against the sarnia st. patrick fighting irish.
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the two-time defending ofsaa champion knights went ahead in the first overtime when anna pozzi was tripped up in the box and converted the the penalty.
yasmine kari scored for holy names in regulation as the knights now move on to ofsaa, which is set for june 5-7 in oakville.
catholic central 3 great lakes 1
the catholic central comets rallied in the second half to capture the swossaa senior boys’ aa title in sarnia against the great lakes wolfpack.
great lakes got the game’s first goal early in the second half, but the comets countered with goals by zakaria ali, jorge rodriguez marquez and aliye aliye to advance to ofsaa, which is set for june 5-7 in ottawa.
lajeunesse 5 north lambton 0
the lajeunesse royals are headed back to the ofsaa girls’ a championship.
the defending silver medalists earned a spot with a solid 5-0 win over the north lambton eagles at acumen stadium on tuesday.
alexa chauvin had three goals to lead the royals’ offence. mikhail harris and julia farhat added single goals while mollie lobzun-howe posted the shutout.
the royals now head to welland for the ofsaa championship, which is set for june 5-7.
jpparker@postmedia.com
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