By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Usually five or six or seven games into a sandlot tournament scores resembles a Sunday afternoon during NFL season.

Not for the Mississauga North Tigers who allowed two, zero and three runs its final three games to take the Ontario Baseball bantam eliminations at Clarkson Park.

Jeffrey Liddell pitched a complete game win as Mississauga North edged the North York Blue 4-2 in the Tigers seventh and final game earning the right to travel to Prince Edward Island and the Baseball Canada bantam nationals.

Liddell allowed two runs on six hits -- two doubles and four singles -- and struck out four in his 89-pitch outing (64 strikes). 

SS Tyrell Schofield-Sam and 1B Arthur Kowara combined in the first and third innings as Mississauga North went up 3-0 against Naveen Devanand. Schofield-Sam tripled with two out in the first and scored on a Kowara double. 

Two innings later after North York had tied the score, John Poirier reached on a single with one out, was erased on a ground ball, then Schofield-Sam doubled in a run and scored on a Kowara single.

Robert Mannella doubled home Kowara in the fifth for a 4-1 lead.

Dionysius Chialtas singled and Ryodai Kojima doubled to open the top of the seventh bringing the tying run to the plate, but Liddell re-gained control with a strike out, a ground ball knocking in a run to make it 4-2 and another ground ball to end it.

Josh Blanchard had two hits, including a double, for the Tigers, who had nine hits.
 
Curtis McCully doubled in a run for North York, while Tyler Offman and Matthias Trondson had the other hits for the Blues. 

North York blanked Etobicoke Rangers 5-0 -- the third time in one day the two teams had met each other -- in the semi final, while Mississauga North had the bye. 

Quarter final match ups saw North York shut out Etobicoke 3-0, while Mississauga North beat the Windsor Selects 4-0. Keegan Thorpe-Pulford and Liddell combined on a three-hit shut out as the Tigers took on Windsor and starter Jacob Prsa. Thorpe-Pulford (three walks, nine strikeouts) and Prsa (two walks, three whiffs) each put up five zeros before Mississauga North broke through with three runs in the top of the sixth. Liddell, Schofield-Sam and Kowara reached with Mannella, Austin Bertrand and Thorpe-Pulford each knocking in runs.  

Kowara was 3-for-3 with a double, while Thorpe-Pulford had a pair of hits, while Braden Hoare had two of Windsor’s hits, including a double. 

And Mississauga North scored a walk-off win over the Vaughan Vikings by a 4-3 score as Matt Barta picked up the win pitching two scoreless. Poirier drove in two runs and Mannella one as he had a pair of hits, including a double as Ashton Feijo added two hits.

Darcy Maus had two hits, including a double for the Vikings, who outhit the Tigers 9-7 as Christian Del Ginduc doubled in a run, while Noel McGarry Doyle and Alessandro Adorante each drove in runs.      

Vaughan’s Dylan Wood allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings, while Schofield-Sam gave up three in four innings before the bullpens took over. 

So two, zero and three runs allowed by Mississauga North. 

In the opener, the Tigers beat the Hamilton Cardinals 10-0, but the score was a tad deceiving as Hamilton trailed only 4-0 heading into the sixth. Thorpe-Pulford was dominant in 5 2/3 scoreless allowing four hits, walking one and striking out 12.

Feijo doubled, singled and knocked in three, while Kowara also plated three. Poirier had two RBIs as Blanchard tripled and singled while Betrand doubled and singled. David Coleman doubled. Seth Cabazes took the loss, while Bennett Duncan doubled for Hamilton.

The Tigers went to 2-0 beating Ajax-Pickering 14-1 with Liddell allowing one unearned run in four innings on two hits and a walk. 

Feijo led the way with three hits, including a double, and three RBIs, while Kowara also knocked in three on two hits. Schofield-Sam, with a double, Mannella and Betrand all had two hits, while Barta doubled in another run. Jake Rogers took the loss. 

Next, the Tigers fell 9-6 to North York a game in which 11 runs were scored in the final inning. Schofield-Sam tripled, doubled, went 3-for-4 and knocked in three runs, while Poirier and Thorpe-Pulford each had a pair of knocks.  

Chialtas doubled to knock in three runs, while Kojima doubled singled and drove in a run and Tyler Offman doubled in a run. Max Yermus also had two hits as North York scored two in the first and two in the second off Blanchard -- one of the four runs were earned -- five in the top of the seventh. Devanand gained the win pitching 6 1/3 innings allowing three runs.

Then, the Tigers got back on the winning ways with a 16-1 thumping over the Toronto Cardinals as Thorpe-Pulford knocked in four with a double and a triple, Kowara doubled, hit a solo homer and Barta hit a solo homer. Matthew Paleczny and Schofield-Sam each went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Feijo and Coleman each tripled in a run.     

The Tigers were coached by Lino Feijo, John Broll, Dwain Ervin, Gary Liddell, Martin Paleczny and Paul Thorpe, former Baltimore Orioles farmhand. 

Thorpe pitched six minor league seasons at rookie-class Bluefield, class-A Newark, class-A Daytona Beach, class-A Hagerstown, class-A Miami, double-A Charlotte. double-A Hagerstown and triple-A Rochester working in 311 games (30-30, 3.32, 59 saves) playing with the likes of future major leaguers: Brady Anderson, Mike Devereaux, Steve Finley, Chris Hoiles, Tim Hulett, Billy Ripken, David Segui and Craig Worthington plus Jeff Ballard, Jose Bautista the pitcher, Eric Bell, Ken Dixon, John Habyan, Mark Huismann, Dave Johnson, Ben McDonald, Jose Mesa, Dennis Martinez, Tippy Martinez, Bob Milacki, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Mike (Mississippi) Smith and Jay Tibbs.

North York beat Oshawa 10-0, Greater Windsor 5-1, lost to Etobicoke 9-2 and beat Etobicoke 3-0 before meeting a third time -- a rarity in a 17-double-knockout tourney.  

Vaughan beat West Toronto 12-2, Toronto 16-1, before losing to Etobicoke and Mississauga North.  

Other first-round action saw Toronto edge the Mississauga Majors 6-5, West Toronto edge the Brampton Royals 7-6, Ajax/Pickering thumped Whitby 11-1, the London Badgers blanked Riverside 10-0, Etobicoke beat Oakville 7-0 and Greater Windsor beat Ottawa 8-0. 

The other second round games saw Brampton beat the Majors 6-1, Hamilton take Whitby 12-1, Etobicoke thumped London 18-1, Oshawa blank Ottawa 7-0 and Riverside edge Oakville 7-6.  

The third-round games saw Brampton eliminate Riverside 7-4, Oshawa beat Hamilton 5-1. West Toronto edged London 7-6 and Greater Windsor beat Pickering 19-3. 

Next Brampton beat Oshawa 12-1 and Windsor knocked off West Toronto 12-2. And then, Windsor edged Brampton 3-2. 

The nationals are Aug. 25-29 at Summerside, PEI.