Sixteen teams from across Ontario participated in the three-day event at the Ancaster Little League Park. The Wolves were seeded into the National East Division with the Ancaster B team, North York Reds and the Simcoe Chiefs.

The Wolves played their first game against the Ancaster B Select team. They took command of the game in the first two innings by scoring two runs in the first and adding five more in the second.

Over the next three innings, the Wolves added eight runs, bringing the game to an end due to the mercy rule. The Wolves' defence held Ancaster to four hits throughout the game and did not allow a runner to advance beyond second base.

The Wolves' offence was led by Justin Coles, Jacob Cooper and Zach Doxey. Each drove in three runs. Casey Gillis, Ryan Kitchen, and Patrick Hiscock had strong outings at the plate with two doubles each. The hottest bat of the game belonged to Will LaChance, who launched a line drive that bounced into the left field fence. The final score of the game was 15-0 for the Wolves.

The Wolves returned to the park Saturday morning to face off against the North York Reds. The Reds won the coin toss and chose to take the field first as the home team. The Wolves responded by taking an early lead in the first inning on a triple hit by Doxey that scored two runs. Doxey then scored on a base hit by Lucas Parsons. The Wolves held the lead until the bottom of the third inning, when the Reds' bats came alive and scored four runs on six hits.

The Wolves answered back in the next inning by scoring three more runs, taking the lead 6-4. The Wolves' defense dug in and held the Reds to one more run for the remainder of the game. Over the next three innings, the Wolves had 14 hits that resulted in six more runs.

The game went the full six innings ending with a final score of 12-5 for the Wolves.

Tournament play was suspended shortly after 1 p.m., when intense thunderstorms moved into the area. Lightning, heavy rains and hail halted play on all three diamonds for safety reasons. Games were delayed for the next three hours while the storm moved through and the diamonds dried out.

At 5:30 p.m., the Wolves took to the field for their third game of the tournament against the Simcoe Chiefs. Simcoe batted first and put two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning. The Wolves answered back in the bottom of the first inning with one run. The score remained 2-1 for the Chiefs until the top of the third inning, when they scored seven runs on nine hits. The Chiefs added five more runs in the fourth inning, making the score 14-1. The Wolves fought hard at the plate but were held by the Chiefs' defence to one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The game ended at curfew time with a score of 14-2 for the Chiefs.

Waterdown finished round-robin play with a 2-1 record and second place in their division. Coaches Parsons, Cooper, Gills and Doxey were proud of the efforts of each of the Wolves during the tournament. They fought hard and made some excellent defensive plays that contributed to the outcome of each of the games played.

The Wolves are hosting their next event at the Millgrove Baseball Park August 9-10.

Six Rookieball Select teams will square off over the two-day event. Check the Waterdown Minor Baseball website for complete details and game schedules.

- Submitted by David Doxey