Better Late Than Never

TORONTO, ON — The Battalion Sports Grizzlies are looking to right the ship this coming weekend at the 6th Super Series C event.

The guys, who went 0-3 and were mercied in every game at the last event, are looking to get back on track Saturday when they play the Chiefs at Southwest London Baseball Complex. The Grizzlies will be going into the weekend with a short bench, having only 11 players.

“We are going to be missing some key players this weekend” said coach Mike Forgette. “Other guys are going to have to step up this time and really help carry the team and get those points we lost out on last time.”

Missing from the weekends games will be outfielders Andrew Baird, Keith Hebebrand, and Travis Boudreault as well as infielders Doug Bennett and Craig Smith and starting pitcher Chris Noah. The team is bringing out one of the extra players on their roster to help round out the team, infielder Jason Rozon.

“It was kind of the perfect storm for guys being away this weekend” remarked Forgette.

“Killing me not playing” added Baird.

Taking the mound for the Grizzlies this weekend is expected to be Rob Logan. Logan was added before the deadline prior to last event and got in three games with the team, but this weekend is expected to be the real test for him.

“I think if Rob can go out there and throw strikes for us and hopefully let the defence do what it can, we should be in good shape” said Forgette, when asked about missing Noah. “The bats should be able to get it going this weekend and help carry us.”

Logan, who previously played with the Dodgers in A and Miken Rockhounds in B, is another powerful bat to add to an already formidable Grizzlies lineup. That lineup has been struggling in recent events though, and the hope is for the team to break out this weekend in a big way.

“I know what everyone on this team is capable of” opined Forgette. “I don’t know if maybe we are as a collective unit gripping the bat too tight or what? We have been missing some key players and when they get back, it should make a world of difference.”

The Grizzlies currently sit 6th in the Super Series C standings, having dropped from 3rd before last event. There is one more event before provincials at the end of August.

NOTES: CHRIS NOAH and DOUG BENNETT both have new additions to their families, so congratulate them when you see them around the diamonds…

Grizzlies Take Home Event 2

LONDON, ON – In just their second Super Series Event, the Battalion Sports Grizzlies beat 15 other teams to win the tournament.

Going 5-1 over the two days, the Grizzlies earned a double knockout for Sunday, and made sure to use it in a 2-game final over the Purepac/SFI Jays. The Grizzlies won the second game 21-16, after dropping the first 17-14, to take home the top prize.

“New teams just don’t make Sunday, let alone win tournaments,” remarked outfielder Travis Boudreault.

Despite going to the finals in the least amount of games possible, the Battalion squad was definitely hurting by the end of the weekend. The smell of Tiger Balm and A535 permeated the entire bench as outfielders Andrew Baird and Richard Sidey worked the creams into their arms. Pitcher Chris Noah took a hard liner off his ankle in the first final game but managed to stay in and finish the event.

“Great weekend all around,” exclaimed infielder Terry Schriver after the finals. “I think we’re going to need to get some body parts off the black market though. Couple of extra arms, maybe a shoulder, and a new ankle for Noah.”

The Grizz, playing in their new jerseys for the first time, started off the event with a hard-fought 10-9 victory over Defcon on Saturday morning. The Defcon squad got off to a 4-0 lead after the first but the Grizzlies quickly made some adjustments to the defence to keep them at bay from there. The offence picked up in the third led by Shaun McBratney, affectionately known on the team as Brizz, who went 4-4 with two home runs and five RBI. The Grizzlies finally took the lead for good in the top of the seventh off of a Dave Marsh single. A quick 1-2-3 bottom half finished off Defcon for good.

From there, they matched up with Event 1 finalists the Rays in a battle of two 1-0 teams. The Grizzlies scored first, putting up four runs in the first and battling throughout to have an 8-7 lead going into the seventh. Sidey led off the top with a triple to put an insurance run just 60 feet away. The next two batters failed to score him. Pinch hitter Derek Jacobsen stepped up to the plate with two outs and ripped a clutch RBI double to center field to plate the teams ninth run of the game. The pesky Rays failed to score in the bottom half, dropping the contest 9-7 and guaranteeing a Sunday appearance for the Grizzlies.

“Making Sunday was the only goal for the weekend” said coach Mike Forgette. “The win over the Rays secured that for us. We were beyond happy with that.”

Saturday’s final game was a matchup against the Dirty Birdz. The two squads had previously met in the first Super Series Event, as well as the Drafterdodge, with the Grizzlies 2-0 in those close games. This one was no different. The Grizzlies prevailed 14-13 despite a four-run seventh inning from the Dirty Birdz. The Grizzlies were led by outfielder Baird, who went 4-4 with a home run and two RBI.

“Bairdo was big for us all weekend,” added Forgette. “Him [sic] and Brizz really were almost automatic for us. You just knew either one of them was going to produce for us whenever they got up.”

With an 11:30 a.m. start time on Sunday, the team was able to enjoy a nice dinner together and some solid rest ahead of their game against the St. Thomas Padres, who were also 3-0 going into the day. The Padres had already knocked off the Event 1 Champions, For A Joke, and were looking to carry that success to the finals. However, the Grizzlies were up for the challenge. Led once again by McBratney on offence, and by Noah and shortstop Ryan Ruznisky on defence, the Grizzlies were able to hold off the Padres advances and topped them 9-4, sending the Battalion squad to the finals with a double life.

“Just get me a ground ball,” Ruznisky kept saying to Noah, who did just that multiple times in the game to keep the Padres from having any momentum.

The Purepac/SFI Jays played their way through the losing bracket to reach the Grizzlies in the finals. The Grizzlies, who had lost each coin toss all weekend, finally won one but chose to be the visiting team to not mess with karma. That move turned out to be a bad one as the Jays kept the Grizzlies on their heels all game. The Grizzlies seemed to break open in the third with an eight-run inning, but the Jays answered right back with 10 of their own in the bottom half. Despite battling back to keep the game close, the Grizzlies ultimately dropped it 17-14, but not before Noah took the aforementioned hard liner to his ankle.

“I’m just not taking my shoe off,” said the pitcher. “It will keep it from swelling.”

Despite the hard shot, there was no talk of Noah coming out of the lineup for the final game. The Grizzlies once again ended up the visiting team but this time played their best game of the event. The offence was rolling with the team having a big eight-run third inning. Every starter on the team scored at least one run in the final, en route to 21 runs scored in the contest for the Grizzlies. After three hard-hit liners at third, the squad reconfigured the defence, sending first baseman Terry Schriver to third, catcher Doug Bennett to first, and third baseman Dave Marsh to catcher.

The move paid immediate dividends with a hard-hit, bases-loaded grounder to Schriver who instinctively stepped on third and threw home to Marsh. Marsh immediately applied the tag on the runner to stop the Jays from scoring. But that wasn’t all. With one out, runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, and the Grizzlies up by five, Schriver was once again the target of a hard-hit grounder. Schriver stepped on third, fired across the diamond for the final out at first, and gave the Grizzlies their first Super Series Event win.

“Best ball weekend ever,” exclaimed centerfielder Matt Barbara.

“Can’t wait for two weeks,” stated Noah. “I love this team! It’s going to be a great year.”

The Grizzlies moved into third in overall points on the Super Series C season, trailing only For A Joke and the Purepac/SFI Jays.

HERE AND THERE: 3B KYLE SISSON was out this event with an injured back. He is expected back in time for the next event… P BARRY BOLT is scheduled for an MRI on his foot at the beginning of June… DH/C SHAUN MCBRATNEY and OF/IF RICHARD SIDEY are scheduled to miss the next event…

Grizzlies Bats Go Cold in Event 1

Hitting a combined .383 as a team in slo-pitch is not going to lead to a lot of success, especially in Super Series.

Thats the lesson the Battalion Sports Grizzlies learned over the weekend. The team went a disappointing 1-3 and were eliminated Saturday night from continuing further in the event.

It was a far cry from the performance the team put on just two weeks ago at the NSA Drafterdodge in Brampton. At that event, the Grizzlies were carried by a potent offence, and it seemed at the time, a questionable defence might be their only deterrent. This weekend, the reverse was the case. The defence was solid from game one, but the offence let the team down.

They started the day with an 8-3 loss to the Purepac/SFI Jays at the South London Baseball Complex. The bats never seemed to get going, and outside of two solo home runs by third baseman Kyle Sisson, the team didn’t really have any momentum to speak of.

It didn’t get any better from there. Playing back-to-back due to the loss, the Grizzlies went up against the Remtech Rush. In a game that saw the teams bats spoil a superb pitching performance by Chris Noah, the Rush beat the Battalion squad 5-3 in extra innings. The Grizzlies actually led 2-0 into the top of the 6th inning, only to have the Rush fight back.

“That loss was really frustrating” said Mike Forgette, coach of the Grizzlies. “We had them, and just couldn’t string together a few more hits to push some runs across for Noah.”

The Battalion Sports Grizzlies entered their first elimination game back at Slo-Pitch City at 3:30 vs. the Dirty Birdz. The Grizzlies and Dirty Birdz actually met up at the Drafterdodge with the Grizzlies winning that one 18-9. This time, the Grizzlies managed to beat them again by a score of 10-7. Outfielder Andrew Baird was instrumental in this one, coming off the bench early in the game to deliver one of the team’s top offensive performances. His two-run home run late in the game helped to seal the victory.

It was then that the Grizzlies earlier efforts did them in. Facing another back-to-back matchup, the Grizzlies went into the last matchup with 4 What. Despite a solid effort, the Grizzlies dropped the contest 14-10, thanks in part to a five-run 7th inning by the visiting team.

And like that, the Grizzlies event was over. Lessons were learned and the team should have a better knowledge of what to expect in two weeks at event 2.

“We just didn’t hit this time” said Forgette. “Thats going to be our bread and butter and so when it goes, it’s going to be tough for us to compete. I don’t know if guys were maybe pressing a little, being the first event and all, trying to do more than they should. When its going good, it’s an easy game – see the ball, hit the ball – but when it is going bad, things just don’t change.”

While the result wasn’t there, there is very little reason to panic. The team is far more talented than they showed in the first event and should be a force in the events to come and in the C division as a whole. The offence, while stagnant, did average 16 runs per game at the Drafterdodge, an event that had a five run cap per inning, so the talent is there. Lets just hope it shows up on May 15.

Grizzlies Go All the Way at Drafterdodge

Playing in their first outdoor tournament ever, the Battalion Sports Grizzlies succeeded in winning the 2015 NSA Drafterdodge tournament… well, kinda.

The Grizzlies and the other finalist, the Platinum Jays, decided to split the first place money after some technical difficulties marred the final. With the Grizzlies up 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th, the lights at Sesquicentennial Park in Brampton suddenly went dark.

“We were just taking the field for the inning when the lights went out” remarked Mike Forgette, captain of the Grizzlies. “We thought someone just thought we were done, but it turns out that they weren’t coming back on and that it was from the city.”

The two teams met at home plate with the umpires to figure out what would happen next. Both teams had a claim to the prize, with the Grizzlies leading currently and the Jays leading by 1 if the game reverted back to the 5th inning score. The Drafterdodge rules stated that all finals games would be 7 innings long or end by mercy if a team led by 10 after the 5th inning or any subsequent full innings.

“They said they should win since score could revert back to 5th, we said we should win since we were up and the rules stated 7 innings had to be played” Forgette added. “In the end, the lights weren’t coming back on and both teams agreed to chop it and each team lay claim to winning the Drafterdodge. Some of the guys even joked about taking a multi-team picture to mark the occasion.”

In the end, the Grizzlies and Jays both split the $600 cash prize and the Grizzlies took home the customized long sleeve shirts from NSA. In spite of the odd ending, the Battalion team saw nothing but good things at the event. The only loss they suffered was in the extra round robin game, in which the Grizzlies rested some primary players as it didn’t matter whether they won or lost. They got behind in a few other games, but didn’t seem to have any issue clawing their way back into games, relying on an offence that put up the maximum 5 runs in 13 of the 33 innings they played on the weekend.

“We can put together a lineup that [is] scary as [expletive]” said third basemen Kyle Sisson, who lead the Grizzlies with 5 home runs on the day. “I am still [expletive] pumped about how that tournament went. I think we are going to put up a lot of W’s.”

In addition to Sisson, the entire team seemed to be rolling offensively over the day, putting up a .610/.670/.952 slash line as a team. Chris Noah led the team on the mound, going 4-0 and putting up an ERA of just 8.11, and a WHIP of 3.053.

“I think this is a good show for us for what a regular Super Series weekend will be like” Forgette said. “Every inning, any team can go 10 deep and put up a big number so no one is ever really out of a game. The teams are all going to be challenging and we just have to keep plugging away and rely on what got us here.”

The Grizzlies next test is the beginning of the Super Series C season on May 2nd in London, Ontario.

Game Threat: Grizzlies (0-0) vs. Dirty Birdz

The Battalion Sports Grizzlies will be taking the field this morning in the teams first official game.

They will be going head-to-head with the Dirty Birdz in the 2015 NSA Drafterdodge tournament, held in Brampton, Ontario. The game begins at 8:00 AM at the Powerade Centre.

While the Grizzlies are new to C and Super Series, and it is anyones guess how they will do this season, the Dirty Birdz are veterans of the circuit, having finished 10th out of 24 teams in the division last year. They mark a good litmus test as to how the Grizzlies can expect to compete in 2015.

Its slo pitch, and being such, its important to remember that any team can beat anyone else at any given time. The extreme highs of winning and lows of losing need to be tempered, at least in the beginning while the pieces fall in place and the Grizzlies see what stick to the wall. How will the Grizzlies play together in a question on everyones mind, seeing as this is the first time that the squad has completely played with just Grizzlies. How will they handle the 5 man infield and 3 man outfield? Is the lineup long enough to push runs across.

One area of concern for the Grizzlies was cashing runs. In the exhibition game they played last week against B Division’s Unleashed, the Grizzlies had multiple innings in a row with leadoff runners at second base, and each time they failed to capitalize and didn’t score any runs. It was the first time outside for a lot of guys on the team and the squad as a whole looked to be shaking off a lot of rust, but leaving those runners stranded will not lead to much success during the regular season. Look for the Grizzlies to improve on that area this weekend.

I’m sure there will be more questions coming from this weekend, be it lineup, defensive strategy, pitching, what have you but for the meantime, lets see what the boys have.

Go Grizzlies!

And now, the lineup for game 1…

C Barry Bolt
P Chris Noah
DH Shaun McBratney
3B Kyle Sisson
5M Dan Douglas
LF Andrew Baird
CF Matt Barbara
RF Travis Boudreault
1B Douglas Bennett
SS Ryan Ruznisky
2B Mike Forgette

HERE AND THERE: 1B TERRY SCHRIVER will miss the weekend, preparing for a trip to Jamaica… OF/C DAVID MARSH will miss the weekend, working the Raptors-Wizards playoff game… Expect P BARRY BOLT to start the 2nd game on Saturday… The Grizzlies regular season uniforms are not in yet. Expect to see them for the first Super Series event on May 2nd in London… The Grizzlies will be using the hashtag #GetGrizzly for their 2015 season. Use that to keep conversation going…