Dryden Husky staved off a late rally to down the Emo Bulldogs 6-4 on Sunday in the final of the annual Barwick fastball tournament.
Trailing 6-0 heading into the seventh inning, Emo’s bats finally came alive–scoring four runs (highlighted by a two-run homer by Warren Voth) and having runners on second and third with two outs.
But Ronnie Mallon, who had held the Bulldogs in check through the first six innings, got shortstop Brent Tookenay to fly out to end the game.
Dryden, on the other hand, wasted little time jumping all over Emo starter Sheldon Kelly, scoring a pair of runs on a two-run blast by Darryl Mousseau in the first inning.
They scored two more in the fifth off reliever Voth, sparked by an RBI double by Mousseau, then added two more insurance runs in the sixth which proved to be the difference.
Emo, which had finished first in its pool with a 2-1 record, nipped the Pinewood Bears 3-2 in one semi-final earlier Sunday to advance to the final.
Jake Allen delivered the game-winning hit–a solo home run–in the seventh inning to nail down the victory. Tookenay provided the rest of Emo’s offence with a two-run blast.
Dryden cruised to the final with a win over Big Grassy in the other semi-final (no score was available).
Big Grassy got by Pinewood 8-4 in the third-place game.
The Bulldogs had opened the tournament with a 14-3 victory over Big Grassy. But then they were edged 5-4 by Sight & Sound before closing out pool play with a 7-1 win over Barwick.
Meanwhile, Dryden was blanked 2-0 by Pinewood to open play but then rebounded to down Big Island 5-3 and Stratton 4-2.