June 15, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

OSHAWA, Ont. - Anyone who has ever seen an all-star game at any level knows how hectic the lineup shuffling can be.

Example No. 1: The 2001 all-star game at Coors Field. It featured 41 position players and 19 pitchers, including one RHP-DH Shohei Ohtani. The Americans beat the Nationals 5-2.

Example No. 2: The Premier League of Ontario staged its all-star game Sunday night at historic Kinsmen Civic Memorial Stadium.

1B A.J. Rowe (Oshawa Legionaires) yelled into the dugout, saying, “Hey we don’t have a shortstop.” A voice replied “I’ll play ... give me a second ... let me go inside the clubhouse and get my infield mitt.”

Fast on the draw and quick like a bunny was Mike Quick (Legionaires) who bounded out of the dugout and assumed his position at short.

The West scored a 5-0 win. And the score was not indicative of the play as Foster Hewitt used to explain to us as kids. Yet, the West arms -- Jacob Belecky (London Badgers), Massimo Church (Midwestern Ontario Bearcats), Owen Findlay (Tecumseh Thunder), Yanick Loiselle (Sudbury Voyageurs), Jackson MacKay (Bearcats), Lukas Meyer-David (Badgers), Cody Moore (Thunder) and Scott Ringette (Voyaguers) -- combined on a no hitter.

If Cook was a hockey player, he’d be known as a rink rat. If he was a hoopster, he’d be known as a gym rat. Now, he’s a baseball lifer headed to McCook Community College. This summer he played for coach Aaron Marshall with the 18U Oshawa Legionaires and while he is usually a catcher, he has spent some time playing up the middle.

“My father (Tony Quick) coached my brother (Isiah) while I was the bat boy ... that’s where I lived,” said the quickest of the Quicks.

His father played for Jim Lutton, who has umpired games in parts of eight decades and is now the official OBA/EOBA historian. Some say, in fact one person even wrote, that Lutton had helped construct the castle-like walls of the stadium. That is inaccurate.

Quick was also at London’s Labbat Park for the Ontario high school final as his school, Maxwell Heights met A. N. Myer Secondary School of Niagara Falls and Father John Redmond of Etobicoke opponents.

In 2019, Quick led the EBLO in hitting for the months of May and June, remaining at the top of team batting for the season. He provided a spark at the top of the order, leading the team in sacrifice bunts and run-scoring fly balls. Talk about bat control: he struck out only five times in 134 plate appearances.

Players of the Game, presented by some guy wearing a Dieppe Cardinals cap: Speedy INF Chris Godden (Badgers) for the West ... For the East, Adrian Yamasaki (Ottawa-Nepean Canadians) was awarded for his catch in centre on the warning track.

Yamaski was 0-for-3 (as the other East hitters wore Oh-fers), but his grab drew the applause of fans on both sides of the diamond. Yamaski said the biggest influences in his baseball life have been Canadians coach John Dale and Chris Stacey, his former coach with the Kanata Cubs 13U. Yamaski hopes to head west when he goes to school next year since he has family in Calgary and Red Deer, Alta. His favorite player is Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuna due to centre fielder’s “flare and energy.”

Shining bright: 1B Noah Williams (Badgers) singled in a run in the seventh ... Yanick Loiselle (Voyageurs) doubled in a run in the eighth.

Flashing leather: 3B Logan Parsons (Bearcats), 2B Justin Hawke (Bearcats) and Williams (Badgers) turned a smooth-as-the-other-side of the 5-4-3 double play ... Williams made like Don Mattingly scooping a couple of balls out of the dirt to save outs.

16U opener: Allon Seepersaud (Legionaires) started for 16U East, with two scoreless innings, with two strikeouts, but the West rallied for a 5-3 win ... The East scored twice in the first and the West rallied to even the score. The West put up three runs late. Rains and booming thunder ended the 16U contest early with two out in the top of the ninth ... Garrett Rochon (Canadians) make a diving catch near the right-field line, saving extras.

MVP: All-star organizer Ken Babcock and his crew worked quickly and to restore the field after the torrential rain getting rid of the puddles which dotted the field. It took three hours of hard work but the 18U game was able to start at its scheduled time.

Babcock told thepblo.com: “The All-Star Game is a unique thing and it’s something that I hope can continue being an annual PBLO event ... Getting together and being on the diamond has been a wonderful thing after two years of interruptions and lockdowns ... To see the kids back at this level, they were really excited. I couldn’t be happier that Baseball Oshawa is hosting the All-Star Games. It’s a big-league day for them to feel big league and feel like an All-Star.”

Pre-game ceremony: After throwing nine strikes in his 10-pitch bullpen, PBLO president Don Campbell bounced the ceremonial first pitch ... from 29 feet. As Derek Jeter told President Bush after 9/11 before he threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium “Sir, you better not bounce it and you had better throw from the rubber ... or they’ll boo you.” Bush threw a strike from atop the mound.