Pakenham Mixed Slo-Pitch
Pakenham Mixed Slo-Pitch
"Est: 2007"
"Est: 2007"
The League Story
"What a story it has been"
In the fall of 2007 after 5 years in the Constance Bay 3-pitch league I decided to host a tournament in Pakenham. It was the first of it's kind in over 10 years at the Fred Millar field and being limited to only one diamond we had to keep it rather small so we made some flyers and went store to store in the village and rounded up three teams and had Constance Bay take some of their best players and create the fourth team. Standing under the lights for the first time as a player made me realize that Pakenham was missing this, so after talking with some friends we decided to start a league. The Bedrockers would beat the Constance Bay Bruins taking home the inaugural Fred Millar Cup.
2008- The inaugural Season
The first year we had (4) teams in the league with all four being mostly made up of family, friends and locals within the village. The defunct Bedrockers name was brought back after an eleven year hiatus and we're joined by Ideal Roofing, Pakenham Wolves and the Valley Lads. The teams had 12 games that season with the Bedrockers taking home their 2nd Fred Millar Cup. There are currently 15 players still playing in the league today.
Teams:
(Bedrockers- C.Byrne), (Ideal- T.Byrne), (Valley Lads- Nathan Machan) & (Wolves- Don Caldwell)
2009- Rivalries start to form...
The league grew in it's 2nd year as three more teams joined the league bringing it to (7) total and became a little more competitive at the same time as rivalries formed right across the board. One of the fiercest ever was the Zig Zags and Smiths Falls rivalry, the intensity on the field was always at a boiling point. The Braves, Bedrockers, Panthers, and Ideal Roofing flew under the radar for the majority of the season while the River Rats chose to go the opposite way and walk off the field in the finals against the Bedrockers after being down (2-0) in the best of 5 series because of an ineligible player which was the beginning of the end for River Rats. The Bedrockers asked the next best team which was Smiths Falls to take their place and started a whole new best of 5 series. The Bedrockers would win the championship while the River Rat players would be dispersed.
Teams:
(Almonte Zig Zags- N.Sonnenburg), (Bedrockers- C.Byrne), (Braves- Don Caldwell), (Ideal- Lori McGrath), (Panthers- Tim Byrne), (River Rats- Nathan Machan), (Smiths Falls- S.Hopkins)
2010- Records & a Dust-up??
In 2010 the Stealers and Army Dillos came aboard while the River Rats and Panthers teams were dismantled. As tension began to rise between the Almonte Zig Zags and the Smiths Falls Wolf Pack the Stealers, Braves, Bedrockers, Ideal Roofing quietly just rolled along. The Braves ended with a (21-3) record, the best in the league but it was no cinderella team like the one roughly 56 km away. After a third baseline dust up between a Zags players and a Smiths Falls player the momentum and intensity shifted in Smiths Falls favor who would steam roll through the playoffs and win their first and last Fred Millar Cup. The records that were set this year were astonishing and the four that still remain today won't be broken....Not in my lifetime anyways.
At Bats (11) Hits (10) Runs (9) & Triples (4)
Teams: (Army Dillos- Danielle Avery), (Bedrockers- Krystal Byrne), (Braves- C.Byrne), (Ideal- Lori McGrath), (Smiths Falls- S.Hopkins), (Stealers- Don Caldwell) & (Zig Zags- N.Sonnenburg)
2011- SHEILA
The League grew to (8) in 2011 as we welcomed the 5 Arch Express and Vice-President Sheila Warren to the league who have both been two of the best additions this league has ever saw. Little did they know they were walking into a volcano ready to erupt between Smiths Falls and every other team. The Zig Zags who had folded in 2010 had five of their players playing on the Bedrockers now and brought the rivalry and tension with them throughout the season and into the playoffs as the two teams met in the finals with the Bedrockers winning the series (4-2).
Teams:
(5 Arch- Casey King), (Bedrockers- C.Byrne), Brewers (K.Byrne), (Braves- T.Byrne & Krazy Mel), (Ideal- Danielle Avery), (Monster Ballers- Sheila Warren), (Smiths Falls- S.Hopkins), (Stealers- Don Caldwell)
2012- It was one "HICK" of a Final
One team joined while another folded as the Spartans joined the league leaving Ideal looking in from the outside with players joining the Spartans and joining the other seven returning teams.
As new rivalries formed the Falls and Bedrockers feud would be put on hold for another year as this was the year of the Hicks with Sticks. The Hicks who were formerly known as the Stealers were joined by a new team made up of some of the best fast-ball players named the Valley Sluggers. The Brewers, Bedrockers and Hicks built a good lead throughout the season allowing them to clinch top seeds in the playoffs and which in the end would set up for one of the best final series this league has ever seen. The Bedrockers and Hicks with Sticks would meet up in the final with both teams winning their three home games setting up for a game #7 match-up as the underdog. Hicks captain Don Caldwell made the final out leaving the winning run at 2nd base winning his first championship.
2013-Redemption?????? and a trade?
There's not a whole lot to say about this season that isn't explained in the picture to the right. While the league continued to grow the rivalry between the Falls and Bedrockers took a turn for the worse when two players, one who decided to leave the bench and was suspended for two games on one team while the other became the first and only player to be kicked out of the league later being kicked out of the National Slo-pitch Association...The picture explains everything you need to know about the last game between the Bedrockers and Smiths Falls in the history of this league which hasn't seen a fight since. The Bedrockers ended up winning the championship in a re-match against the Hicks with Sticks. The Smiths Falls Wolf Pack (53-53) and the Bedrockers (104-13) would end their run in the league that off-season. The first trade in the history of the league was also made as the Padres traded Douglas Twining to the Bedrockers in exchange for Brad Runtz via text. Twining played over 100 career games has won six Fred Millar Cups while Runtz would play 7 career games and retire from the league.
Teams:
(5 Arch Express- Casey King), (Bedrockers- C.Byrne & N.Sonnenburg), (Brewers- K.Byrne), (Hicks with Sticks- Don Caldwell), (Monster Ballers- S.Warren), (Padres- R.Dorion & Krazy Mel), (Smiths Falls- R.Hopkins), (Spartans- Jeff Rouble) & (Valley Sluggers- Erika Cameron).
2014- "The Setback"
The 2014 season was in doubt for quite some time after the Bedrockers, Smiths Falls, Padres, Spartans, Monster Ballers and Valley Sluggers all folded but in early February, teams started to be added as the Bedrockers split with half going to the Gingarockers and the other half going to the Sons of Lanarky. The Master Batters and Silver Bullets would later be added bringing the league total to (7). April 14th we had another setback as we we're two weeks away from the season and had one of the biggest floods we'd ever seen at the field . The season didn't start until mid-May
Teams:
(5 Arch Express- Casey King), (Brewers- K.Byrne), (Gingarockers- Doug Twining), (Hicks with Sticks- Don Caldwell), (Master Batters- Krazy Mel), (Silver Bullets- Sheila Warren) & (Sons of Lanarky)
2015- The Brew crew
The League grew to 9 teams as the Ice Cold Pitchers and Thugs N Jugs joined
