MITCHELL - It was the perfect ending to what amounted to an almost perfect baseball season for the St. Marys Senior Rookie WOBA team, sponsored by Stonetown Foodland and the Kinsmen Club.
After boasting an impressive 14-2 record on the season, the ‘Rockies’ squad—led by coaches Mike Hall, Mike Waugh and Mike Hillman—travelled here on the Aug. 13-15 weekend for their season-ending championship tournament.
Friday night’s game found the Rockies facing the home-town Mitchell team.  
Leading the way offensively were right fielder Dalton Lindsay and Jake Weston, who were both 4-for-4 on the night.
Defensively, the St. Marys infield did an exceptional job of defending the lead, with shortstop Desmond Thompson, second baseman Ian Waugh and first baseman Jake Weston completing two double plays to secure a convincing 23-10 win for St. Marys.
Strong defensive work
On Saturday morning, the Rockies met the Goderich ‘Black’ team for their second game.
Again, the St. Marys boys had success at the plate with left-centre Jake Bryans hitting 3-for-3, but the big story of the game was the outstanding defensive work by the Rockies’ fielders.
Left fielder Brecken Glousher fired in several balls from the outfield during the course of the game to prevent the Goderich runners from advancing, while right-centre Joe Hutton pounced quickly on several hard-hit grounders to put the runners out on second.
The contest ended in a 15-8 St. Marys win.
The Rockies’ third match of the tournament was against the Goderich ‘Purple’ squad.
Feeling the championship title within their grasp, the St. Marys boys came out swinging. Third baseman Lakin Hillman led the charge and was 4-for-4 on the night, while catcher Sam Bolton also connected with a 3-for-3 hitting record.
Solid hits by teammates Cody White and Lindsay also helped to advance the St. Marys runners, but it was a home run socked by Waugh late in the game that sealed Goderich’s fate—with the game ending 22-9 for the Rockies.
Final a nail-biter
The championship final took place Sunday morning against Listowel and proved to be a nail-biter from the beginning.
Rockies took an early lead, with pitcher Zach Hall slugging the ball to earn a triple. Speedy fielder Blake Boreham also had an impressive run at the plate, going 3-for-3 and easily advancing the St. Marys runners.  
However, a determined Listowel team would not go down without a fight and answered back quickly. Excellent defensive plays by Josh Mailloux, who snagged a solid grounder to put a runner out at first base, and Lakin Hillman who made a great catch in foul territory late in the game to record an out, helped to prevent Listowel from grabbing the lead.
In a thrilling finish, St. Marys found themselves ahead by only two runs with Listowel’s potential winning run at the plate. Despite a solid hit by the Listowel player, shortstop Desmond Thompson made a phenomenal running snowcone catch to earn Rockies their third out and end the game in a thrilling 13-11 victory.
The Senior Rookie Western Ontario Baseball Association champions will now prepare to compete in the OBAs, which will take place Labour Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, in Wallaceburg.