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Pitchers shine through overcast at Pinkerton Tournament

dave shea, watertown daily times, n.y.
·4 min read

May 12—Intermittent rain and almost constant overcast created cool, damp conditions at the OFA baseball diamonds on Saturday.

But through the work of the school district's buildings and ground staff, the OFA coaches and volunteers the 2024 Jim Pinkerton Memorial Wooden Bat Tournament was very memorable. A large contingent of the Pinkerton Family took part in an opening ceremony where Patty Pinkerton Goodnow and Marc, Paige and Taylor Pinkerton all threw out first pitches to the catchers of the four participating teams in OFA, Canton, Beekmantown and Saranac Lake.

The pitchers of the four teams THEN came to the forefront inspite slick mound conditions.

OFA's Tyler Sovie struck out seven without issuing a walk pitching a two-hit shutout in a 5-0 first round win while Canton's Charlie Todd allowed four hits and only one run after a four-run first inning where he struggled to get comfortable on the mound.

Beekmantown advanced into the title with a 9-2 win over Saranac Lake behind the four-hit pitching of Patrick Hagadorn. Beekmantown claimed the championship SAM Bat Trophy with a 5-3 victory over OFA where starter Nate Parliment and reliever Zach LaPier allowed just five hits and struck out 10 and the Blue Devil tandem Nate Sholette and Cam Griffith yielded just three hits after adjusting the mound conditions.

The consolation game saw a trio of Saranac Lake pitchers Chirs Gillis, Zach Goetz and Adam Learner strike out nine in 4-0 three-hitter over Canton which received a complete one-hitter with 12 strikeouts by Jackson Ames.

"There were some errors but it was a really good tournament. The pitchers on all four teams pitched very well. In our first game Tyler Sovie threw a complete game shutout and Canton's Charlie Todd had a tough time in the first inning but recovered. In the championship game their pitchers threw very well and Seth Sholette and Cam Griffith, who have thrown strikes for us all year, struggled but they hung in there," said OFA Coach Brooks Brenno.

"Thank you to all who had a hand in today's Pinkerton Tourney. Special shout out to Terry Tammy McKee , Ryan Griffith, Gary Corbine, Brian Mitchell and his staff for all their hard work. Also, thank you to the Pinkerton family for being there and Tom Pinkerton for organizing all of that. We hope to carry on this great tradition for many years to come. Thanks to our bat boy Henry Shaver and Cruz O'Brien our ball boy. Future Devils are always great to see at the games."

"Congrats to Beekmantown on a well played game for the championship. Thanks to Saranac Lake and Canton for being a part of our special tourney," Coach Brenno added.

OFA 5 — Canton 0: Tyler Sovie came away with two special gameballs after the NAC Central victoru. One after completing his two-hit shutout and the ball which he drove over the rightfield fence leading off the second inning. He was also one of four Devils to score in the first inning where Dylan Sovie stroked an RBI single as OFA capitalized on four walks and an error.

Madden West, Collin Brenno and Lucca LaBella added singles for OFA. Brenno also made diving catch in leftfeld and Seth Sholette made two pretty scoops at firstbase to handle low throws.

Todd and Brandon O'Shea singled to account for the two Canton hits.

"It was a good baseball game and well-pitched. Charlie Todd had a lot of trouble in the first inning but turned it around," said Canton Coach Matt Caufield who was one of many OFA Baseball players highly influenced by the late Jim Pinkerton.

Beemantown 5 — OFA 3: Beemantown opened a 5-0 lead in the championship game where Nate Parliment doubled and scored two runs, Sam Bingel singled and scored and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Owen Rankin singled twice.

OFA revived its cause as Tyler Sovie and Seth Sholette (2 singles) stroked RBI singles and Lucca LaBella lasered a homerun over the leftfield fence. Cam Griffith also singled.

"Early in the game, we made two errors and had control troubles but we regrouped and got back into the game," said OFA Coach Brooks Brenno.

SL 4 — Canton 0: Chris Delosh singled and scored two runs leading the offensive support of Saranac Lake's mound trio. Charlie Todd, Jackson Ames and JJ Ahlfeld singled for Canton.