In a back-and-forth championship final, Brayden Rawe hit a ground ball to first base and Cooper Hill broke for home plate, sliding in safely as he knocked the ball out of the catcher’s glove to give the North Langley Trappers a dramatic 11-10 come-from-behind victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Trappers were playing the Cloverdale Wolves in the gold-medal game at the Will Smith Memorial Tadpole (under 9) tournament in Walnut Grove.
The 12-team four-day tournament was hosted by North Langley Diamond Sports at the George Zarrelli Diamond, Walnut Grove Park and Fort Langley Park.
This marked the first time in the four-year history of the tournament that a North Langley team took top spot.
Rawe was named player of the game for his game-winning RBI.
North Langley had gone 2-1 in round-robin play, beating the Surrey Canadians 16-2, losing 8-6 to the Cloverdale Rangers (the Trappers were leading 10-8 but once time ran out, the score reverted back to what it was at the conclusion of the last completed inning) and then beating the North Langley Blue Jays 5-2.
Lukas Rimaldi, Hill and Isaiah Williams were the players of the game, respectively.
Seeded third for Sunday’s playoff round, the Trappers beat the Rangers 11-2 and the Blue Jays 12-8. Brody Laturnas and Cole Dorland were the players of the game in those two playoff contests.
And in the finals, the Trappers had to show some resiliency, battling back from a 7-2 deficit to take a 10-7 lead into the final inning. The Wolves would score three runs to tie things up in the final inning, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
The Trappers players are: Brayden Rawe, Isaiah Williams, Ben Young, Eli Euverman
Bottom Row: Lukas Rimaldi, Brody Laturnas, Cooper Hill, Ryder Chapelle, Parker Hill, Bailey Burgeson, Kingston Sayers, Cole Dorland and Brooks Brodie.
The coaches are Tanis Payne, Ron Dorland and Scott Hill.
Gary Ahuja Langley Times
Langley Yankees’ Logan Worsley (left) and North Langley Dodgers’ Cole Bourdon wait for the action at first base on day two of the Will Smith Memorial Baseball Tournament at Walnut Grove Park on Friday.
