The playoffs started smoothly with 2 stress free victories (15-0 and 13-3)against MSBA Twins Grey and Majors Red respectively. The path got a little rockier in the third game when they faced an emerging Mississauga North Tigers Team.
The Giants jumped out to an early 2-1 lead after the 2nd inning. In the 4th inning they would stretch their lead to 4-1 on a Daniel Nikitovic 2-run shot to center field. The Tigers team would fight back though and scored 3 in the top of the 5th to go up 5-4. The Giants answered in the bottom of the 6th scoring 3 runs with base hits by Dylan Connoly-Downey, Nikitovic, and Braden Wojcik. With only 5 minutes left to finish the last inning, play was suspended and would resume the next day.
Mitch Fiacco was on the mound to close out the 2 run lead the next day but the Giants defense didn't show up, and the scrappy tigers squad managed to plate 3 runs to go ahead 8-7. With only one at bat left, the Giants backs were against the wall. The bottom of the order answered the call with Austin Kean, Aidan Morris, and Troy Jaroslawski all reaching base. Jaroslawski would end up scoring the winning run on a Lucas Suppa sac fly to send the Giants to the championship.
In the championship, things would not get easier as the Giants were matched up against a Majors Red squad that doesn't make mistakes. Christian Banken got the start and showed his best control of the year getting ahead of batters and throwing all of his pitches for strikes. The result was 3 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts and a 1-0 lead after 3. The run scored on a Anastasi Grigoriou single up the middle that scored Sean Cochrane from second.
The Giants would add 2 more runs in the 4th inning when Mitch Fiacco singled, followed later by a Daniel Nikitovic rbi double. Nikitovic would also score on a passed ball, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead after 4.
The Majors would not give up though, as they managed to scrape 2 runs across against Jeremy Receno in his third inning of work. Going into the bottom of the 6th, the Giants led 3-2 and were in dire need of an insurance run.
As has often happened, the bottom of the order answered the call when Aidan Morris lined a single to right field to lead off the inning. He would steal second and then Troy Jaroslawski sacrificed him over to third. Morris would score on a Receno ground out giving the Giants a 4-2 lead.
Fiacco would be given the ball once again with the task of getting the save. The Majors Red team led off with 2 singles putting the tying run on base with nobody out. Fiacco would bear down and strike out the 2 next batters, and with runners on 2nd and 3rd he induced a ground out that sealed the Giants victory.
The City Championship gets added to an impressive (and hopefully incomplete) list of accomplishments for the Giants. In addition to the hardware received, the championship also qualifies the Giants for the provincials which will be held labour day weekend in Bolton.
The coaches would like to congratulate the players on a good playoff run and we hope to carry the momentum into the provincials.
Details about the provincials and a mid-week practice will follow shortly.
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