Mosquito minor Yankees capture coveted diamond title

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The Montreal Metropolitan Baseball League playoffs are in the books — and two local teams captured championships for 2007.

In respective best-of-five final series, the mosquito minor (first-year players) Lakeshore-Trois Lacs Yankees defeated the Lanaudière Seigneurs in five games while the peewee major Lac St. Louis Cardinals took the Laval Associates in four games.

The Yankees entered their series already up 1-0 in games. An MMBL rule applying only to minor clubs rewards those that go undefeated in the preliminary round with that advantage. After taking game two 9-4 on Aug. 21, the Seigneurs bounced back with consecutive 9-5 victories to even the series at two games apiece before the Yankees took the decisive encounter, 10-0 on Aug. 26. “We simply took care of business,” said Yankees head coach John Lalonde. “The kids simply had fun out there all series long, and played well. They were a great little team all year.”

Head coach Robert Litvack’s Cardinals took game one against the Associates 8-2 on Aug. 28 before grabbing game two 4-3 on Aug. 31. They dropped game three, 6-1 on Labour Day before outlasting their opponents 14-9 last Wednesday night at Grier Park in Pierrefonds to capture the title. “Nobody picked us to do very much at the beginning of the season,” said Litvack. “But, we thought differently. It’s the kids who deserve this.”

Meanwhile, the bantam major Lac St. Louis Cardinals also qualified for the MMBL final, but dropped the best-of-five series against the Lanaudière Riverains in four games. “I’m still proud of these kids,” said Cardinals head coach Jason Starr. “Considering the fact we only won eight games all year, and nobody gave us a chance in the playoffs, we did all right.”

Diamond note: Don’t put the lights out on the local inter-city baseball season just yet. The South Shore Junior AA Baseball League Lakeshore Braves are still alive. Head coach Pierre-David Labre’s troops, who upended traditional rival Lac St. Louis Cardinals in four games in their best-of-five semifinal series, lead the Drummondville Olympiques two games to one in their best-of-seven final. The Braves won the opener, 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland before dropping game two, 6-2 the following afternoon in Drummondville. On Monday night at Bénévoles, the Braves lost game 3 6-5. Game four is scheduled for tonight in Drummondville. 翿