The New Glasgow Kinsmen MacGregors took home gold at the Midget AA provincials last weekend in Centerville.
In their first game the MacGregors played Clark's Harbour and came up short 3-1. Top hitters for the MacGregors were Cory Fraser, Brandon MacDonald and Tyler Chisholm all with singles. Cody Heighton pitched a complete game.
The Macgregors had to regroup for the second game as it was a must win or go home. In it they faced the Sydney Ramblers who had just got back from competing at the Canadian Senior Little League Championships.
The MacGregors came out flying scoring three runs in the first and cruise to an 8-2 victory. Top hitters were Cory Baird and Tommy Hayman with two singles each and Glenn Harvie, Cody Heighton, Lucas Gulliver, Matt Thomas, Patrick Williams, Riley Bennet and Cory Fraser all singled. Glenn Harvie threw a complete game in the victory.
Up next was the semi final game against the host team North Kings Eagles. This was another hard fought game as it had to go into extra innings. The MacGregors won 6-3 in eight innings. Fraser came thru with the big hit in the top of eighth as he stepped up with the bases loaded and came thru with a clutch double to clear the bases. Other hitters for the MacGregors were Cody Heighton, Gulliver with doubles and Hayman, Baird, Thomas, Macdonald and Jordan Heighton all had singles. Baird again came thru with a strong performance on the mound pitching into the seventh inning and Gulliver came in to finish the game.
The MacGregors had to meet the Clark's Harbour Foggies one more time on their path to gold. The MacGregors fell behind by two in the first inning, but the players stayed positive and focused as they came back to score three of their own in the bottom off the third to take the lead on runs scored by Colten Green, Matt Thomas and Pat Williams. Williams had a long 300ft double of the fence.
But the Foggie would not go away as they scored two runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead, however in the bottom of the fifth Brandon MacDonald singled, stole second and was driven home by Tyler Chisholm with a single to tie the game.
Both teams would continue to put runners on base in scoring but the defence and pitching would not break as they played into the tenth inning. In the top of the tenth it seemed the Foggies gained the momentum as they scored one run to take the lead 5-4. But the MacGregors fought to stay in the game.
Green led off the bottom of the tenth with a double, Williams followed up with a single then stole second with runners on second and third. Chisholm stepped in and hit a shot too short. Green scored and as the shortstop tried to throw Chisholm out at first. Williams used his speed to come home and score the winning run.
Brandon MacDonald came on in relief in the fifth and pitched into the 10th for the victory.
Coach Hayman and Green said they were very proud of the boys.
"They didn't quit. They kept on working and finished the job," said Hayman.
The team now travels to Charlottetown on Labour Day weekend to compete at the Midget AA Atlantics. This is the first year that MacGregors have had a AA team and Hayman says the standards that the boys set will be high for next year.
