With the colder temperatures here, what better way to think warm thoughts than to talk baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays had a season not seen since the early 90’s. In the Forest City, baseball is alive and well, including the London and District Baseball Association. The 2015 season was a very successful one by all accounts, with thousands of kids playing the game, from the ages of 5 years old up to 21, on diamonds in London, St. Thomas, and the surrounding area. Community baseball is certainly alive and well!
London and District teams represented the organization at both the provincial and national levels. Provincially, LDBA teams were successful at various championships across Ontario this past summer. The North London Nationals Major Peewee team captured Ontario Gold at their provincial tournament hosted in the Forest City. The St. Thomas Cardinals AA Minor Rookie Team captured gold, as did the Dorchester Diamondbacks in Major Rookie.
The Minor Peewee London Tecumsehs were silver medalists, while the Minor Peewee London Badgers captured AAA gold, and the Ilderton A’s were gold medalists in Major Bantam D. The midget London Badgers captured AAA gold and also won gold at the Baseball Ontario Elimination tournament, giving them an unprecedented 8th appearance at the 18U Baseball Canada National Championships.
Finally, the St. Thomas Tomcats AAA team earned a silver medal at the Elimination tournament, qualifying them for the 21U National Championships in Saskatchewan. Nationally, the Major Peewee Badgers captured bronze at the 13U Nationals in Quebec for the second consecutive season, and the Junior Tomcats captured bronze.
LDBA umpires represented the organization at many events last year. At Ontario Elimination tournaments, Jim Cressman was a supervisor at midget, Justin Snively was an umpire at seniors, Eldon Dunseith was an umpire at senior, Bobby Blake was an umpire at senior, and Dan Mudry was an umpire at bantam. Nationally, Dan Mudry umpired at the 13U Atlantic Championships, and was the home plate umpire in the gold medal game. Justin Snively was an assistant supervisor at the 13U Atlantic and an umpire at the senior championships. Jim Cressman was a supervisor at midget, Rob Companion was an umpire at senior, and Shawn Taylor was an umpire at Bantam.
It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2016 season. Registrations for most associations will begin early in 2016. Information can be found at the LDBA website: ldbabaseball.ca. There, you will find links to all local association websites to assist with registering for the 2016 season. Also, in 2016 LDBA and the London Badgers will be hosting the 13U Baseball Canada National Championships at Stronach Park from August 25-28. This will be the second time the event has been hosted in London.
Story submitted by LDBA (London & District Baseball Association)
