Old Sox win 31st Sox baseball tourney
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Tillsonburg Old Sox got it done on the weekend winning their own 31st annual Old Sox tournament Sunday.
Tillsonburg lost 4-2 to Woodslee Friday night, rebounded Saturday with a five-inning 10-0 win over Walsingham, and kept the offensive juices flowing Sunday doubling Woodslee 8-4 to win the tournament’s 35-plus A Championship.
“I think the biggest thing is we had a few more baseball breaks (Sunday),” said Old Sox coach Terry Lamb. “That’s where the difference was, I think, in three of the eight runs were off errors. But that’s baseball right? They’d hit a stone, or a bad bounce, or a bad throw. But that’s baseball.
“I’d say we’re a one-run pair of teams, either way. Today we beat them 8-4, they beat us 4-2, but tomorrow, they beat us 5-3. So who knows?
“They’re a smalltown team like us. They play very good defence, pitching. They’ve got a couple great hitters – that big No. 8’s good. But today their defence… I think that’s probably the key to it.”
“Our offence was good,” said Old Sox manager Sam Lamb, noting offensive highlights from Derek Partlo and Mike Peevers. “Our pitching was good, too. Guys like Ryan Balazs, Jon Nunn, Brian Kempster…”
The Old Sox also won last year’s Sox tournament, beating Woodslee in the 2012 final. Woodslee went on to win a national title in PEI.
“They went on to it all last year, and I think that game here was the only game they lost last year,” said Terry Lamb. “I think they won every tournament but here.”
Tillsonburg is getting ready for a trip to Edmonton for the Canadian Oldtimer Nationals on the August Civic Holiday weekend.
“The core players are here. We still need to add a few players in key positions. We need probably one to two pitchers, and maybe one more pitcher.
“We don’t like to go outside the area, but… We’ve got a good solid 12 guys, and we need about 16. I think we’re going to go – if we go we want to be competitive.”