The Thorold Anchors have successfully earned a place in the finals of the 2022 Ontario Baseball Association (OBA) Senior C-Division Championship, which took place at McMillan Park this weekend.
“The way that the guys were playing and the atmosphere on the bench—I don’t think there was ever a moment where I doubted that we would walk into the finals,” says the team’s manager Aaron McInnis, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “They didn’t play for themselves, they played for each other. It’s hard to stop a team that plays like a team.”
The OBA Championship saw thirteen teams from all over the province come together to bat it out on three different locations in Niagara, including McMillan Park.
Throughout the weekend the Anchors successfully took on the Essex Diamondbacks, Hanover Hitmen, Port Dover Sailors, and the Tillsonburg Red Sox, to ultimately secure themselves a spot in the finals with an overall 5-1 score.
“They were all close games but they’re supposed to be because everybody is in the right division and evenly matched,” says McInnis. “I did expect us to be in the final. I felt 100% confident we would see Sunday.”
McInnis says it meant a lot to the team to see the local community come out in support.
“It felt like the whole city was there,” he says. “They did a great job, they were behind us. They really pushed us right up to the finish line and we’re going to need them to come back out and push us across the finish line.”
Because of the heavy rainfall on Monday, the final two games of the championship have been postponed.
No official make-up date has been announced as of yet but September 17 is floating around on social media as a possibility.
McInnis hopes that the local community will be there again to hopefully see the Anchors win the championship.
“I’m as proud of these guys as can be,” McInnis says. “The fans this weekend were the extra push, especially with the close games when they needed to find the extra energy, to just push a little bit further than the other teams. Their support makes a huge difference.”
