Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart
September 9, 2021, Victoria, BC – Jordan Bond had a triple, single and two RBI in his only two at bats to help lead the Victoria Golden Tide to a 7-1 win over the Victoria Mariners Thursday afternoon in the opening game of the Zack Downey Memorial Tournament being held at Layritz Park in Victoria.
The win was the first in team history for the Golden Tide and Head Coach Curtis Pelletier, as Thursday’s game marked their first official game action in their inaugural fall season in the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC).
The Tide would get the jump early on the Mariners, as their very first batter, Tyler Burton, stroked the team’s very first hit, then stole their very first base and eventually scored their very first run, on their very first RBI on a ground out from catcher Parker Harris.
The game remained close after that and following Bond’s triple and then an RBI single from Alden Holzwarth, both in the fourth inning, the Tide held a slim 3-1 lead.
That would not last long as the Tide would put things away in the fifth inning, scoring four runs, thanks to a two-RBI triple from Davis Jack that scored Burton (single) and Austin Wall (walk), Bond’s RBI single and another RBI single from Holzwarth.
Tide pitchers were effective on the day, with Ethan Dean – the first starting pitcher in Tide history – Nate Major and Jacob Popadynec all pitching two innings each (games in the tournament are just six innings in length) and holding the Mariners to just three hits in total, two of which, a single and triple, came from Mariners’ lead off hitter Jaydon Malinowski.
They would also be helped out by some slick defence early from third baseman Brandon Green and solid middle defence later in the game from the Wall twins, Myles and Austin.
The Tide are next in action on Friday at 2:30 pm when they take on the Saskatchewan Prep Academy. They then face the Victoria Eagles on Saturday at 9:30 am.
In other action at the Zack Downey Tournament on Thursday, the Victoria Eagles had clutch hits from Owen Luchies and Oliver Mabee and a brilliant pitching performance from Sam Jordan to defeat the Mid-Island Pirates 6-0.
The Eagles will face the Parksville Royals in the first game of the day Friday, a 9:30 am start, while the Royals will hang around to play the Pirates at 12 Noon. The Tide and Saskatchewan game goes at 2:30 pm while the Mariners will then play Saskatchewan in the final game of the day at 5:00 pm.
On Saturday, the Tide and Eagles kick things off at 9:00 am, followed by Saskatchewan against Parksville at 12 Noon. The Mariners will then play the Pirates at 2:30, with the consolation game (5th place vs 6th place) going at 5:00 pm.
On Sunday, the semi-finals will go at 10:00 am and 12:30 pm, with the Championship game scheduled for 3:00 pm.
All game are at Layritz Park in Saanich.
More images from the Golden Tide / Mariners game can eventually be found at https://christianjstewart.zenfolio.com/p321055318