By Baseball Canada
Opening day came to a close at five different Baseball Canada Championships. Teams took the field in their first games looking to give themselves a head start in the standings. 

18U championship
Eight games have been played so far in Magog, Sherbrooke and Coaticook, Que.. New Brunswick defeat PEI 4-3 and Saskatchewan bested Nova Scotia 3-2 in the two opening games. Manitoba’s pitching staff held Newfoundland hitless in their 10-0 win that took five innings. Newfoundland then redeemed themselves by defeating Nova Scotia 6-3 later on in the day. Both Québec teams won their games on home soil. Team Québec beat Ontario in 6 innings by a score of 12-2 and the Ailes du Québec won their game 4-2 against Alberta.

Zack Zinck (Bridgewater, NS) struck out nine over four innings in Nova Scotia’s 3-2 win over Saskatchewan. Bennet Dalke (La Salle, Man.) drove in five runs in Manitoba’s first two games, while Drew Grady (Kensington, PE) homered in PEI’s 4-3 loss at the 18U Championship. 

Manitoba 7 PEI 1 – Bennet Dalke’s (La Salle, Man.) three-RBI performance led Manitoba’s offense while their pitching combined for only two hits and one run allowed. Reid Howard (Winnipeg, Man.) earned the win.

New Brunswick 6 Saskatchewan 0 – Zach Newman (Miramich, NB) shut out Saskatchewan over 6 innings to lead his team to the win while his team put together 9 hits.

Ontario 4 British Columbia 1 – Shane Barker (London, Ont.) tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in an impressive pitcher’s duel while reliever Zachary Fascia (Brampton, Ont.) came in the earn the win.

Québec 7 Ailes du Québec 2 – Québec’s pitching staff combined for only three hits allowed while Matthew Majeur (Laval, Que.) and Jonathan Lacroix (Montréal, Que.) drove in two runs each.

21U Championship
Team Manitoba put together 10 hits in their 9-1 win over Kentville in the opening game. Ontario 2 limited Dartmouth to 1 hit in their 4-0 victory. Québec scored four runs in the seventh to top Kamloops by a score of 8-1.

Vincent Caschera (Sarnia, Ont.) put one out of the park in Ontario 2’s 4-0 win over Nova Scotia 1, while Ryan Pollard (Brampton, Ont.) of Ontario 2 struck out 13 in his one-hit shutout against Nova Scotia 1.

Burnaby (BC1) 15 Kentville (NS2) 0 – Starting pitcher Gage McLaren (Hope, BC) held Kentville to 1 hit to earn the win. Davis Todosichuk (Kelowna, BC), Darren Honeysett (Port Coquitlam, BC) and Jared Frew (Kelowna, BC) drove in 3 runs each for Burnaby.

Ontario (ON1) 11 Saskatchewan 3 – Chris Horwood went 2-for-4 with three RBIs including a two-run shot in the 1st to lead Ontario to victory.

Québec 8 Regina (Host) 0 – Frederick Fauteux (Valleyfield, Que.) shut out Regina over 5 innings to earn the win. Joey Toupin (Trois-Rivières, Que.) homered and Simon Loranger (Trois-Rivières, Que.) drove in 3 to lead Québec’s offence.

Kamloops (BC2) 6 Dartmouth (NS1) 1 – Starting pitcher Erik Brownell (Kamloops, BC) went the distance for BC allowing only 1 run over 7 innings on the mound while Josh Hillis’ (Kamloops, BC) two RBIs helped the team to victory.

Senior Women Invitational
Play was also slightly delayed at the Senior Women Invitational. Québec’s 21U team lost the opening game of the tournament against Ontario in Saguenay by a score of 17-3.  

British Columbia 12 Ontario (ON2) 2 – Stacy Fournier (Surrey, BC) tossed a complete game for BC allowing only 2 runs on 1 hit and 4 walks over 5 innings of work. Emily Fournier (Surrey, BC) went 3-for-3 driving in four runs to lead the offence in the win.

Ontario (ON1) 19 Québec (QC1) 0 – Autumn Mills (Toronto, Ont.) went the distance in Ontario’s huge win over Québec. Jenna Flannigan (Cornwall, Ont.) went 3-for-3 with five RBIs, including two doubles and a triple in an impressive offensive showing.

16U Girls Invitational
Play was delayed due to rain to start the event, but Ontario went on to top Manitoba by a score of 9-3 in the opening game of the tournament at Parc Saint-Philippe.  

British Columbia 15, Québec (QC2) 5 – Kensington Renneberg (Kelowna, BC) went 3-for-4 with four RBIs in BC’s victory. Teammate Jessie McKay (West Kelowna, BC) went 3-for-4 as well adding two RBIs to the scoresheet.

Québec (QC1) 12 Alberta 1 – Arianne Levesque (Lassomption, Que.) earned the win for Québec allowing only one run over four innings while Bridget Kelly (St-Leonard, Que.) led the team’s office with four RBIs.

Nova Scotia 8 Newfoundland 7 – Brooke Mingo’s (Truro, NS) four scoreless innings 2-for-3 performance at the plate helped Nova Scotia edge out Newfoundland in the close match-up. 

13U Western National Championship
Burnaby edged out Saskatoon in a close game to kick off competition at the event. Oildome then topped Sherwood Park by a score of 6-3 in the second game of the day before the Opening Ceremonies. 

Coquitlam-Moody (Host) 10 St. James (MB1) 0 – Carlin Dick (Abbotsford, BC) struck out 11 over four perfect innings to lead Coquitlam-Moody to the win. Kai Sands (Coquitlam, BC) went 4-for-4 including two homeruns to lead his team’s offense.

South Jasper Place (AB1) 8 Regina (SK2) 6 – Rhett Krafchuk’s 3-run homerun in the 4th wasn’t quite enough to top Regina’s host team. Nathan McClinton (St. Albert, Alta.) earned the win tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings to end the game.