Etobicoke’s Bishop Allen Academy settled for the silver medal at the provincial high school baseball championships held in Etobicoke on an overcast Wednesday, June 11.
After winning its morning semifinal game at Millwood Park 3-1 over Burlington’s Notre Dame CSS, the Etobicoke school headed over to Connorvale Park where they lost the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championship final 4-1 to St. Anne CHS from the Windsor area in the afternoon.
"A couple mistakes that we made, that’s what hurt us in the end, and they (St. Anne) didn’t make any mistakes – that’s why we lost," said coach Paul Rebelo. "That’s okay, a silver medal at OFSAA is amazing. Second best in the province. I’m proud of the guys."
And one those mistakes, he said, definitely wasn’t an out at home plate when they were down 2-1.
"I sent our runner home to try and tie the game, to make it 2-2 and the shortstop made a good throw, the catcher blocked the plate and he’s out, so it was (still) 2-1.
"I was taking a chance but I would take that chance all the time."
It marked only the third loss of the season for Bishop Allen, to go along with 17 wins – with one of its other losses also to St. Anne at an early season tournament (also by a 4-1 score).
The team’s other loss of the season did not happen on the field but over a controversial forfeiture of a game the team was winning over a pitch-count dispute in the OFSAA east regional tournament.
Fortunately, for Bishop Allen, however, its 3-1 record in that double-knockout tournament was good enough to advance them on to Wednesday’s final-four.
In its own Toronto District College Athletic Association (TDCAA) league, they were 4-0 in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoff round-robin, including a 5-4 win in the TDCAA championship final over Etobicoke archrival Michael Power/St Joseph Catholic High School.
"If you were to tell me in September that our team would win a silver medal at OFSAA I would say you’re crazy. But we did it," said the coach.