Little League Ontario Junior Provincials underway in Cornwall

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Legion Park is home to the 2024 Little League Ontario Junior Competition hosted by Cornwall District Minor Baseball.

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The prestigious event features the host Cornwall River Rats and five district champions – Kingston Colts (District 7), Oakville Whitecaps (District 1), East Nepean Eagles (District 2), Orleans Red Sox (District 6) and Upper Ottawa Valley River Cats (District 8 ).

Thursday night’s coaches meeting was an unofficial start. Action on the field — all games are at Lutt Bergeron Memorial Field — was set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday with Oakville taking on Orleans, but that contest will have to be rescheduled. Cornwall River Rats 14U head coach Pat Collins was keeping a close eye on field conditions late in the morning and said areas of the pitching mound and plate were still problematic, unplayable for the 9am tilt as they still Still exists. too much moisture in the ground and on the surface.

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“It’s nice out today, but the problem is the rain we (started) getting two days ago,” Collins said.

So, just after 12 o’clock and before the opening ceremonies, Kingston and East Nepean actually opened the tournament – ​​and it was a bit of a nail-biter in the final innings. The Colts were on a comeback trail to cut the deficit to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, but several Kingston pitchers in the top of the seventh struggled to find the strike zone, and walks drove in two more runs for the Eagles in what would be a 7-4 victory.

Mother Nature nailed it a bit too – dark clouds were still in the area and heavy rain was reported not far away in several Adirondack mountain communities.

The baseball event from here appears to have caught a weather break, with the remnants of Hurricane Beryl finally moving away from eastern Ontario — and with sunny skies expected for much of next week, including what should be a glorious weekend with six. more games on the board.

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All the teams were in uniform and with their banners for the colorful opening ceremony, but the spectacle is now gone and it will be all business for the teams until next week as they try to earn a trip to nationals.

The hosts saw their first action late Friday afternoon and it was the River Rats taking on the River Cats, Cornwall taking on Upper Ottawa Valley.

There are three games per day during the round-robin competition until early Tuesday evening. The top four teams will advance to the playoff round, with semifinal contests at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and the championship matchup on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.

The winner of the event advances to nationals in Lethbridge, Alberta (July 23-31), and the Junior League World Series is in the Detroit area Aug. 4-11 in Taylor, Michigan.

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