ALVINSTON WINS PETE SCHWAB MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
 

This past weekend, the Alvinston Indians travelled to Frankenmuth, Michigan, for the annual Pete Schwab Memorial Fastpitch Tournament.  The Alvinston Indians and their families love attending this tournament, and it's almost everyone's favourite tournament of the year.  The Alvinston Indians were the champions in 2008, and were looking for back to back championships at this tournament in 2009. 

The Indians opened up against DC Current from Bremen, Indiana.  Brad Young took to the mound for Alvinston and tossed a one hitter with one walk and 12 strikeouts over 7 innings, for the complete game shutout victory.  Joe Triest (2/3 with 2 runs a walk and an RBI) and Eddie Ketelhut (3/4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI's) paced the Alvinston offence, en route to a 9-0 victory over DC Current.  Scoring the other Alvinston runs were Tim Brown (2), Eric Hyatt, Theo Metron and Chris Drew.  Driving in the other runs for Alvinston were Ryan Chapman (2), Drew, Metron, Ryan Swift, and Young. 

In game #2 of the day on Saturday, the Indians sqaured off against Gillies Fastpitch from Midland, Michigan.  Alvinston jumped on the bats early, scoring 3 runs in the first inning, for a 3-0 lead, but that's all the offence they would muster in the game.  They allowed one run in the seventh inning, but hung on for a 3-1 victory in the game.  Ryan Swift was dominating on the mound for Alvinston.  Swift earned the win, allowing 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, and marking 15 strikeouts in the contestover 7 innings of work.  Theo Metron hit an RBI double in the first inning that scored both Steve Donald who singled to start things off, and Chris Drew who reached base via an error.  Eddie Ketelhut then followed with a sacrifice fly to score Metron for the third and final run for Alvinston. 

In game #3 on Saturday, the final round robin game for Alvinston, they faced off against the Rice Creek Lightning from Marshall, Michigan, the same team they defeated last year in the finals of this very tournament.  The game remained a tight affair until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Alvinston would finally touch up Lightning starting pitcher Trevor Kelly for three runs.  A single by Swift got things rolling for Alvinston, and then Jason Hope got them on the board, with a triple into the gap.  Mark McCallum then hit a sacrifice fly to score Hope for a 2-0 lead.  The Indians would add one more run in the inning, when Joe Triest, Steve Donald, and Chris Drew hit consecutive singles, with Drew driving in Triest with his single.  In the bottom of the sixth, Alvinston added two more runs, for a commanding 5-0 lead.  Once again it was the bats of Swift and Hope that got things rolling, with two consecutive singles for Alvinston.  With Eric Hyatt running for Swift, Ryan Chapman then followed with an RBI single to score Hyatt, and Hope would come around to score when McCallum reached base via an error by the Lightning second baseman.  Brad Young earned the win for Alvinston, pitching 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits, and striking out 7.  Shaun Winship came in for the final six outs of the game, to earn the save for the Indians.  Winship walked one batter, and struckout 5 in two innings of work.  The final score was Alvinston 5, Rice Creek Lightning 0. 

The Indians now advanced to Sunday's playoff round, with a 3-0 record, good for first place in their division.  They faced off against the Frankenmuth Driving School, who placed second in their respective division.  The Indians sent Ryan Swift to the mound, and he was dominating yet again.  Swift held the talented Frankenmuth lineup to one hit and one walk over 4 innings of work, and he recorded 7 strikeouts in the process.  The Alvinston bats were not held quiet either.  Metron reached base via an error by the 3rd baseman, and Ketelhut was then hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second in the second inning.  Swift followed with a single to load the bases, and Hope was put to work again, as he scored both Metron and Ketelhut on a 2 RBI double.  With a 2-0 lead, the Indians would get back to work in the third inning, adding a single run.  Metron doubled down the third base line to score Donald for the game's third run.  And then in the fourth inning, the Indians added two more insurance runs.  Ryan Chapman and Mark McCallum both singled to lead off the inning, and a throwing error by the third baseman cost the Driving School two runs, as both Chapman and McCallum were plated on the error.  The Indians now had a 5-0 lead, and Shaun Winship came in for the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings and shut the door for Alvinston to earn his second straight save.  Winship allowed one hit and fanned five batters.  With the 5-0 win, the Indians now advanced to the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, the Alvinston Indians were pitted against the Goshen Gators, from Goshen, Indiana.  The Gators got to workearly scrapping a run together in the fist inning for a 1-0 lead.  Alvinston would tie the game in third inning, when Ryan Chapman walked, McCallum sacrificed Chapman to second, and then Chapman scored on an RBI single by Joe Triest.  In the fifth inning, Goshen would get back to work, as a rare three error inning by Alvinston cost them a run, and now put them behind 2-1.  But the Alvinston Indians finally got their bats working late in the game, as they wanted to return to the championship game, to try and repeat as champs.  Consecutive singles by McCallum and Joe Triest got things going for Alvinston in the sixth, and Eric Hyatt (running for McCallum) tied the game, when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Drew.  A clutch 2 out RBI single by Metron scored Joe Triest to put the Indians ahead for good.  The Indians added three more runs in the seventh when Hope, Winship and Chapman all scored runs, with McCallum Joe Triest, and Steve Donald collecting the RBI's.  Brad Young started the game for Alvinston, pitching the opening five innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits, with 4 strikeouts and earning the victory.  Shaun Winship earned his third consecutive save, pitching the final 2 innings, allowing no hits and striking out three.  Final score was Alvinston 6, Goshen 2.

The Indians were now in the championship game for the second consecutive year, and facing off against the same team they faced earlier in the tournament and the previous year in the finals, the Rice Creek Lightning.  This time they sent their ace to the mound in Sean Kelly, while Alvinston countered with Ryan Swift.  Rice Creek threatened in the bottom of the first, when they left runners on first and third but failed to score.  In the top of the second inning, the Indians caught a break, when with two out, Swift hit a ball into the gap, that the outfielder tried to dive for but missed, and in turn Swift hit an inside the park homerun for an early 1-0 lead for Alvinston as he crossed home plate before the throw.  Swift would then get back on the mound and allow only one base runner (via a walk) over the next four innings of work.  Swift would pitch five innings of shutout ball, allowing 1 hit and 3 walks, with 8 strikeouts to earn the win.  Winship then went in for the final two innings, and earned his fourth straight save, striking out 5 of the last 6 outs in the game, preserving the 1-0 championship win for Alvinston. 

With the win, the Indians completed a perfect 6-0 weekend, and repeated as the Pete Schwab Memorial Fastpitch Tournament Champions.  The Indians allowed only 3 runs against on the weekend, which proved how dominant their pitching staff was.  Swift and Young each earned three victories on the weekend for the Indians, while Winship added 4 saves.  In 6 games, the Indians had to make 126 outs, and of those 126 outs, 66 were of the strikeout variety, meaning that over half of the outs recorded on the weekend were strikeouts, thus proving the dominance of the Alvinston pitching staff.  The Indians also mustered 29 runs on the weekend, which was an average of about 5 runs per game, which is almost always enough to win.  Ryan Swift was named the tournament Most Valuable Player and Pitcher, while the Indians received a trophy for first place, plus championship t-shirts for winning the tournament.  A big thanks to the organizers for another successful tournament!  Alvinston should be back to defend again in 2010!