BACK ROW: Doug Dodd, Josh Garton, Mark Allen, Mike Goemans, Craig Fairfull, Jason Muller, Nic Stahl, Kevin Wallace, Scott Vande Valk; MIDDLE ROW: Doug Langille, Steve Budai, Mat Taube, Chris Valeriote, Louis Castillo, Mike Walker, Adam Reynolds, Bob Dezeeuw; FRONT ROW: Andrew Van’t Wout, Elliott Shrive, Kyle Langille, Mike Andrulis, Mike Lajoie; ABSENT: Jason Dodd, Gary Coates, Dave Walker, Wilf Muller, Morris Reynolds, Don Lajoie, Neil, Srivastava, Randy Cormier
Guelph has a proud baseball heritage and 2006 turned out to be another chapter in that fascinating book. The Guelph Silvercreeks of the Junior Intercounty League won the regular season pennant that season but eventually lost in the league final to St. Thomas. Still, as host of the Canadian Championships that year, they qualified for the Nationals. They lost their first game, which meant one more loss, and they were out of the tournament. As irony would have it, they met St. Thomas in the semi-finals. 1B Mark Allen had a pair of hits and knocked in three runs while 3B Mike Walker had three hits as the Silvercreeks obtained some sweet revenge by eliminating the Tomcats 14-3. Andrew Van’t Wout pitched five innings for the win. That meant they would meet Quebec in final. Quebec jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Then the magic started. 2,500 fans started to sense the comeback and began urging the team forward. Guelph would score three runs in the sixth inning and catcher Steve Budai drove in the two tying runs with a single in the seventh. Elliot Shrive led off the 8 inning with a bunt single, moved to second on another bunt and 1B Mark Allen ripped a single to right that scored Shrive after a close play at the plate. It was a crazy and emotional moment as 2,500 fans erupted and the players mobbed each other on the field. Rookie pitcher Adam Reynolds pitched three perfect innings for the win. “It wasn’t the most talented team we had in Guelph over the 10 year span but it definitely was a team that knew how to win” said manager Scott Van de Valk. “They had a special karma and they knew how to make it happen when they needed to.”
Inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame – Team category – on October 27, 2010
