Mosquito Jays take home Silver Bat

August 2, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

In a 41-year history, the Mosquito Jays are the first Aurora King team to ever bring home the Newmarket Silver Bat trophy.

A perfect 5 – 0 weekend was capped off Sunday by a championship win over the Western Ontario Baseball Association Bulls, coming from behind in spectacular fashion.

Trailing 5 – 3 in the bottom of the seventh and final inning, a bases-loaded triple by Nathan Lambert earned a walk-off 6 – 5 win for the Jays.
“(Lambert) smashed one into the right corner and cleared the bases,” said Michael Burdo, a team parent.

The tournament was the second championship win of the season for the Mosquito Jays, who were the victors at their home tournament at the Leisure Complex in early June.

Aurora King’s road to the final was a dominant one, giving up only four runs through round-robin play. They handed defeat to the Markham Mariners, Sarnia Braves, and Whitby Chiefs by scores of 17 – 1, 20 – 2, and 15 – 1.

Congratulations to Brennan Badger, Nicholas Burdo, Darcy Carter, Luke Davison, Blake Duyn, Fionn Keon, Nathan Lambert, William McKenzie, Gabriel Oldenhof, Tyler Pridham, Finn Walker, Nathan Windle, head coach Jordan Keon, and assistant coaches Greg Davison, Ryan Windle, and Greg Walker.

Though Mosquito is one of the youngest divisions of Ontario Baseball, comprising of players eleven and under, most of the AKBA Jays have brought success to the organization together for years. Only two players were new to the team in 2016, and three in 2015, when the team was York-Simcoe champions.

This season has looked just as promising for the team, who lead the Tier 2 Mosquito division with an 18 – 2 record.

Aurora King will go up against their five York-Simcoe rivals: Newmarket, Barrie, Markham, Stouffville, Thornhill – in mid-August playoffs. The top two teams qualify for the Ontario Baseball Association playoffs in September.