O’LEARY
The Southern Black Bears from New Brunswick and the East Hants Mastadons from Nova Scotia were the top girls and boys teams respectively after round robin play Saturday in the Eastern Canadian U12 softball championships in O’Leary. On Sunday, they showed their round robin placings were no flukes.
The Mastadons overcame a 4-1 deficit to the Brookfield Elks after four and a half innings by scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth, then holding on for a 5-4 win in the boys championship game on Jeff Ellsworth Field.
Over on Ellis Field, the Southern Black Bears scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and five more in the fourth in cruising to a 7-0 victory over New Brunswick counterpart, Kennebecasis Valley Dynamite.
The Elks only round robin loss was 2-0 to the Mastadons. The same two teams met Sunday morning in the first versus second playoff game with the Mastadons taking a 9-0 win and advancing to the 4 p.m. championship final. The Elks earned the rematch by downing Alberton 10-0 in the semi-final. Alberton, third in round robin, made it to the semi-final with a 13-6 win over host O’Leary in the third versus fourth play-off game.
In the Girls’ first versus second playoff the Black Bears kept their winning streak going with a close 6-5 win over Dynamite. After third place Nova Scotia scored a tight 8-7 win over fourth place Tignish, the Dynamite blasted Nova Scotia 6-0 in the semi-final to earn their rematch.
There were only four teams in the boys’ tournament so all four made it to the playoffs. Only the top four girls’ teams in the seven-team competition made it to the playoffs.
Final round robin standings for the girls were:
1. Southern Black Bears, 6-0
2. KV Dynamite, 5-1
3. Nova Scotia, 3-3
4. Tignish, 3-3
5. West Royalty, 2-4
6. O’Leary, 2-4
7. Summerside, 0-6
Final round robin standings for the boys were:
East Hants, 3-0
2. Brookfield, 2-1
3. Alberton, 1-2
4. O’Leary, 0-3
