Firth, Hobbins, Colvin pace Ottawa West to first LL title

SS Sam Moer, left, and 2B Sal Lima of the Ottawa West Twins were not able to erase Kingston Colts Griffin MacDonald but they were able to win the Little League Major Provincial Championships with a win over the High Park Braves. Photo: Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard.

By Patrick Kennedy

The Ottawa West Twins tallied six runs over the first two innings, then survived a late charge by the High Park Braves All-Stars to defeat the perennial contenders from Toronto 9-8 in thrilling Little League Major Peewee Ontario Provincial Baseball championship game Wednesday night in Kingston.

With the victory the Twins advance to next week’s Canadian championships in Ancaster, with the winner there representing Canada at the upcoming Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Twins third baseman Charlie Firth collected three hits and scored twice to lead the Ottawa team to its first provincial title since the club formed in 2014. George Hobbins added a run-scoring double and a single and drove in a pair of runs for the winners, who scored twice in the first inning and added four more runs in their second at-bats.

The early 6-1 deficit put the All-Stars, who had cruised to four straight wins in the five-day tournament en route to the final, in an unfamiliar position: Having to play catch-up.

Ottawa added another run in the fifth and two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth that proved to be pivotal when High Park, down 9-2, rallied for six runs in their final at-bats.

Winning pitcher Carson Colvin pitched five strong innings and departed after throwing the maximum limit of 85 pitches. He surrendered two hits, walked four batters and struck out five. Will Watson, the last of three Ottawa pitchers, earned the save. With the tying run on third base, he fanned clean-up hitter Adyn Schell and retired Zak Mair on a foul pop-up that saw catcher Gabe Symes dive headlong and snare the ball inches from the ground.

In Tuesday’s semifinal games, Ottawa West clobbered Brockville 12-4 while High Park, an seven-time finalist and five-time champ since 2011, defeated South Ottawa 6-1.