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Astros advance to final day of U16 fast pitch nationals

Aug 8, 2015 | 8:25 PM

The Prince Albert Astros have made it to the final day of the 2015 U16 Boy’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championship.

They beat the West Hants Nova Scotia Thunder 5-1 in their third game Saturday at Prime Minister’s Park to continue their playoff journey.

It was the Astros’ second win over the Thunder on Saturday, as they beat them early in the day 6-5 in both teams’ last round-robin game.

There is still a lot of work to do for the Astros to get to the finals. They’ll have to beat the Newfoundland Eastbound Speedway at 10 a.m., then play the loser of the battle of Ontario between the Glencoe Home Run Force and the Chepstow Lang Farms at noon. The final is then at 2:30 p.m..

Astros 5 Thunder 1

Cameron LeBlanc got the Astros started with a two-RBI single in the first inning to give the Astros an early 2-0 advantage. They extended the lead to 3-0 in the second when Gille Lavoie hit an RBI triple.

The Astros went ahead 5-0 after the fourth inning when Astros second baseman Braidon Turner hit an RBI triple.  LeBlanc knocked him home shortly afterwards with a single.

Astros pitcher Talon Thomas had by far his best pitching performance of the tournament. He carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning before Spencer Barron broke that with a two-out single. He finished with a complete game win, giving up one earned run, five hits and striking out 10.

The Thunder didn’t score their first run until the top of the fifth inning on a double-steal, making it a 5-1 ballgame. That’s all the offence they’d get. 

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea