Minor Mosquito team captures YSBA title and silver medal at OBAs

Two weeks after winning the York Simcoe title, the Richmond Hill Phoenix Minor Mosquito baseball team took home the silver medal at the “A” Ontario Baseball Association championships over the weekend. The team played 7 games in 4 days at the 20-team tournament and became just the second Phoenix team ever to capture the YSBA championship and reach the provincial finals in the same season.

The highlight of the tournament was a marathon win over Peterborough going almost three and a half hours.  The boys had to dig deep and win their semi-final game that began immediately after. The Phoenix defeated teams from Toronto, Oshawa, Peterborough, Barrie and Oak Ridge before meeting a strong Markham team in the gold medal game, and losing an exciting contest 18-13.

The silver medal capped an incredible year that included final four finishes at the Bolton and Niagara Falls “AA” tournaments and winning the YSBA championship. After a 12-6-1 regular season, they had a 10-2 record in the playoffs and won 15 total tournament games during the year. Including exhibition games, the team won over 30 games this season.

Keep your eyes out for future major leaguers Logan Lindo, Jake Brown, Joshua Martins, Carson Sabo, Ryan Hillsdon, Ben Sitarenios, Hayden Heinrich, Joseph Gervasi, Ethan Macartney, Trey Edelstein, and Michael Spataro.

All the boys had their moment in the sun. Jake played the best first base defense since Steve Garvey.  Pitching gems came from Carson, Joseph, Hayden, Ben and Ethan. Josh hit two HR and earned the win in the semi final game, Ryan and Michael had their best hits of the season, Trey used his speed to start rallies, Logan scored the game winning walk off run against Peterborough and as usual lead the team in HBP earning the nickname “Ball Magnet”.

Head coach John Lindo would like to thank coaches Paul Hillsdon, Gil Sitarenios, Ed Sabo, Rui Martins and Nino Apostoli, and the world’s greatest bat girl Lauren Macartney, for their help during the off-season, regular season and the great playoff run.

NEWS RELEASE

Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis Honours Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipients

(Richmond Hill, Ontario, September 6, 2012) - Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis honoured thirty individuals with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal September 6 at a special ceremony held at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. 

“I am pleased to honour 30 exceptional individuals with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal," said MP Menegakis. "All have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their daily lives and are committed to making our communities a better place in which to live.” 

MP Menegakis spoke about the Queen’s 60 years on the throne and her dedication to community, service and society. “The Queen has dedicated her entire life to the service of others and has always held this country and all Canadians in the deepest of pride and affection,” said MP Menegakis. “Her ideals and devotion to service are an example to all of us, just as those we honour tonight have motivated others within their own communities. Indeed, it is a remarkable testament to these individuals that once informed of this honour; they all noted how fortunate they were, to have worked with so many others who have inspired them. This speaks to the true spirit of teamwork that characterizes 13 million volunteers in our nation. I thank all of these individuals for their exemplary service for the benefit of all.”

The Diamond Jubilee medal program is a legacy activity that honours Her Majesty and recognizes the service of Canadians from all walks of life and backgrounds that have made significant contributions to their communities and helped create the Canada of today. Some 60,000 Diamond Jubilee medals—to match the 60 years of service of Her Majesty—are being given to Canadians throughout the year.

The Chancellery of Honours, as part of the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, administers the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal program.

To be eligible for this honour, a person must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, but need not necessarily reside in Canada; have made a significant contribution to a particular province, territory, region or community within Canada, or an achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada; and be alive on February 6th, 2012, the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the Throne. The Diamond Jubilee is one of several important anniversaries leading to the 150^th anniversary of Confederation in 2017 that has shaped our history and contributed to our national identity.

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipients:

David Bishop, Lieutenant-Colonel John Burns, David Cohen, Jackie Cousins, Nancy Coxford, Chunilall Doobay, Private Arthur Fortin, Dr. Athanassios Foussias, Colin Gillis, Tom Graham, Ernest A. Henderson, Greg Kanargelidis, Ashiq Khan, Farsad Kiani, Valentin Lossev, Sheelagh MacDonald, Sam Manougian, Captain Thomas McKeage, C.D., Sri Krishna Misir, Wendy Ophelders, Stan Pagonis, Michael Parsa,  David Pearo, Major Kanwal Sethi, Mul Raj Sethi, Constantinos Sophocleous, Vito Spatafora, Kai Tao, Daisy Wai, Alex Yuan.

Medal Recipient, Stan Pagonis

Stan Pagonis has been instrumental in the development of minor baseball in Ontario and Richmond Hill and is a strong voice and champion for the advancement of the sport. Stan has volunteered over 25 years of service to the Richmond Hill Phoenix Baseball Club as a coach, umpire, convener, executive member and president. Before Richmond Hill, Stan was active with the York Simcoe Baseball Association, serving on its executive for many years. In the 1990's, Stan was instrumental in introducing the now popular "Rookie Ball" program to Ontario for eight and nine-year-olds. He was also the driving force behind forming the Select Ontario Baseball Association and was a founding director of the Richmond Hill Community Sports Council. He has been a member of the Mayor’s Community Charity Golf Tournament since 2008.

Jacob Martin from the Major Peewee Tier 1 AAA team won the Best Overall Player Award, leading his team to the semi-finals of the  CNE Lions Club Peewee Tournament

from YorkRegion.com
Michael Hayakawa|
Aug 09, 2012

Richmond Hill's Chan off to baseball tournament

 
Go west, young woman. Brittany Chan will be part of Team Canada at the International Baseball Federation’s women’s baseball championship in Edmonton, AB this month. They say softball is a game tailored more for girls while baseball is a game for boys.

Brittany Chan would beg to disagree.

While growing up and taking to the ball diamond, playing softball was never an option for the Richmond Hill resident.

Instead, she jumped right into playing baseball with a Richmond Hill Phoenix house league baseball club at age 12.

Since then, the 18-year-old Chan has never regretted that decision.

Especially since as it has enabled her to don a Team Canada jersey as part of a Canadian women’s baseball team at the fifth International Baseball Federation Women’s Baseball World Cup in Edmonton.
The tournament, which begins Friday and runs until Aug. 19, includes teams from Japan, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, the United States, Cuba, Australia and Venezuela.

Chan’s presence on the national team stemmed from her participation at the Canadian Women National Baseball Tournament in Edmonton, where she was part of a Richmond Hill-based Ontario Women’s Development team that captured the gold medal.

Upon conclusion of the tournament, players from all of the participating provincial teams were chosen based on ability and experience to represent the Canadian team at the upcoming world championships.
Chan was excited with the prospects of representing Canada in an international competition.

“It is such an awesome feeling to be a part of this team,” she said. “I’m incredibly honoured to wear the Canadian jersey and be one of the 20 women to represent this great country. It’s surreal.”

Chan said the thought of making the squad had entered her mind. But not having any prior international experience, she thought that might have worked against her.

For Chan to make the team, she required a solid performance during the nationals. She gave that and was a vital cog in helping the Ontario team win the gold medal.

With the stellar pitching and outstanding defense the Phoenix held each opposing team to 5 runs or less in all games and went undefeated into the Semi's. 0-0 tie vs Newmarket, 5-4 win over Whitby, 6-4 win over Oakville and 11-5 win over Kitchener in the semi's

The team played exceptionally well against some strong teams with the pitching combinations of Daniel C, Anthony Z, Darien D, Tyler N, Natan H, Aaron S, Connor S and Junya O.  Solid defense by 3rd baseman Dan S, and fielders Phil A and Quinn P backed them up. Offensively, a timely 2 run HR by Tyler N gave us the lead in the Oakville game; Catcher, Alex C  (who played every inning behind the plate) lead the clutch hitting with 7 key RBI's.

The team played fantastic all weekend long only to come up a little short and out of gas in the finals with 4-1 loss to Vaughan. 

Great Job Boys!