The Barrington Barons and Avon View Avalanche entered Saturday afternoon's NSSAF Western Zone Baseball Championship game at Tremain Crescent in Windsor with perfect 3-0 records from round robin and semi-final play.
Both teams entering the championship game already knew they would play in provincials this coming weekend in Dartmouth, but still needed a huge win.
The winner would be placed in a higher seeding bracket when the tournament starts Oct. 17. The Avalanche, despite scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning on two bases on balls and an error by the Barrington centre fielder, could not manage a hit in the championship game and were defeated 5-1 by the Barons.
The Avalanche were retired three up and three down in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh innings while managing to draw a walk in the third and fourth innings.
They were caught stealing in the third and left the runner at first in the fourth.
In earlier play leading to the Avalanche's berth in the Western Zone Championship game, they won three games.
Here is a recap:
Avon View 5, Horton 1:
The Avalanche scored three of their five runs in the bottom of the second, but only garnering one hit. Devon Dunfield led the inning off by being hit with a pitch; he stole second and scored on a fielder's choice. William Early connected for an RBI single and his teammates were looking for more runs before being retired with the bases loaded.
Gabriel Bibby made the throw of the game as he rifled home a ball from left field to catcher Dawson Wood to gun down a Horton runner attempting to score.
Avon View 6, Northeast Kings 0:
The Avalanche scored three runs in the first inning thanks to a two-run double from Dunfield, who finished the morning with three RBIs. Austin Sabean, while not garnering a hit, scored three runs for his team while he, Adam Ferguson and Dunfield pitched the win.
Avon View 18, Digby 0:
The Avalanche were simply too much for the Digby Mariners as they scored eight runs in the first inning and added seven more in the fourth in a gam called after four innings due to the 15 run mercy rule. Joe Beaton and Reuben Hebb combined to no hit and strike-out 11 of the 13 batters they faced while allowing a single bases on balls.
