Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
A group that began as house league baseball players four years ago, the Northumberland Jacks 16U team has come a long way.
This season, the Jacks established themselves as a strong rep team, earning 15 wins, competing in numerous close games and making their first appearance at the Ontario Baseball Association championships, which was held in Port Lambton during the Labour Day weekend for the 16U B level.
Their provincial experience included a first OBA tournament win, a hard-fought loss to Grimsby and a difficult final game against Kingsville. More importantly, it gave the players a chance to see how far they had progressed together.
The Jacks opened the tournament with a 9-5 win over the Lucan-Ilderton Athletics despite some first-game jitters. Hollis Ford delivered a strong start, allowing six hits and five runs over six innings, with only one of the runs being earned. Ben McBride closed out the game with a scoreless inning of relief, striking out two batters to earn the save.
Game 2 was a hard-fought battle against the strong Grimsby Coyotes. Coach Chris Stark said the Jacks played their best game of the tournament, but ultimately fell just short in a 6-5 loss. Finley Booth-Doris started on the mound and pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing five hits and six runs while striking out an impressive seven batters. Booth-Doris also contributed offensively, laying down a perfect squeeze bunt for an RBI.
In their final game, the Jacks faced the Kingsville Knights and struggled to find their rhythm, dropping the game 13-2.
At the OBAs, Landon Lafontaine was a standout offensively, drawing six walks and posting an impressive .727 on-base percentage. Jack Knight and Jacob Lyons led the team with three hits each, while Lyons was especially impactful on the base paths, stealing an impressive eight bases.
Stark said the tournament also provided plenty of memories away from the field, particularly after rain forced the cancellation of the first two full days. He said the extra time together allowed the players to bond before finally getting onto the diamond.
The coach noted that camaraderie has become one of the defining characteristics of this group.
“The thing that stands out most is how the boys became a complete team, playing for each other and not just themselves,” Stark said. “There were no cliques, just friends doing whatever they could to help the team win.”
At the OBAs, that team spirit even extended to their appearance, with every player bleaching his hair blonde.
On the field, the Jacks continued to show that their development was about more than simply accumulating wins. Their transition to wooden bats could have been a challenge, but instead the team became an even stronger offensive club.
“This was our first year using wooden bats and we expected the boys to struggle with their hitting this year, but we became an even better hitting team than we ever had been before,” Stark said. “We focused on hitting fastballs early in counts and only swinging at strikes. We had seven players with on-base percentages of 0.407 or higher, with Lafontaine leading the way at a 0.514 clip.”
The next challenge will be developing the team’s pitching depth as the players continue on at the rep level.
“The challenges, or our focus for next season will be on pitching and developing more pitchers, instead of throwers. We need to develop more guys like Ford and Booth-Doris that can change speeds, consistently throw strikes and keep hitters off balance. This will allow us to use the defence and keep our pitch counts down, which has become a huge part of the game in minor baseball.”
Stark said the progress made by the Jacks is a reflection of four years of work from the players and coaching staff.
Team members are Evan Bolduc, Nolan MacDonald, Landon Lafontaine, Hollis Ford, Finley Booth-Doris, Jack Knight, Nick Townsend, Jacob Lyons, Ben McBride, Maddux Stark, Griffin Watts, Austin Teel and Colby MacDonald.
“We couldn’t be prouder of how far the team and each individual has come over the past four years,” coach Stark said. “The future seems a lot brighter for this young group after this season.”
Stark also credited the people who helped the players make that transformation, thanking assistant coaches Tyler Knight, Dave Trew and Jason Carroll for the hours they devoted to developing the players both on and off the field
Author: Jeff Gard
