Belmore Stingers clinch top spot as Huron County Fastball League season winds down

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

The Belmore Stingers have sewn up first place in this year’s Huron County Fastball League standings, with a record of 17-1 and 34 points with just two games left to play. Even as the Sebringville Sting have a whopping seven games left to play, there is no chance they will catch the league leaders, even if they win all of them.

 

In second place is the Wingham Hitmen with a record of 12-5 and 24 points, followed by the Goderich Grizzlies at 10-7 and 20 points in third place and the Elmira U20 Expos at 8-7-2 and 18 points in fourth place. 

 

The Brussels Bangers (8-9), Brussels Tigers (8-8), Monkton Muskrats (8-7) and Sebringville Sting (8-5) are all tied on points with 16 each, followed by the ninth-place Milverton Millwrights with a record of 7-9 and 14 points. 

 

The Mitchell Mets and Walton Brewers follow with identical 5-10-1 records and 11 points each with the Fullarton A’s in 12th place with a record of 5-13 and 10 points and the last-place Wroxeter Rippers with a record of 3-14 and six points.

 

Games next week will resume after the Labour Day long weekend with three games scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 3. The Walton Brewers will be in Goderich to play the Grizzlies in a game shifted from Sept. 9. The Brussels Bangers will host the Sebringville Sting in a game originally scheduled for July 10 and the Elmira U20 Expos will be in Wingham to play the Hitmen in a game originally scheduled to be played on Aug. 16.

 

The next day, Sept. 4, the Sebringville Sting will be in Monkton to play the Muskrats in a game originally scheduled for Aug. 9 and the Walton Brewers will play the Milverton Millwrights in a game originally due to be played on July 18.

 

On Friday, Sept. 6, leading into the final weekend of the season, Goderich will play the Sting in Sebringville, the Milverton Millwrights will play the Muskrats in Monkton and the Brussels Bangers will host the Wingham Hitmen. On Sept. 8, the Sebringville Sting will play the Rippers in Wroxeter and the Monkton Muskrats will play the Brussels Bangers on Sept. 9, just ahead of the final day for regular season games, which is Tuesday, Sept. 10.

 

Looking back, on Aug. 25, the Sebringville Sting beat the Mitchell Mets in Rostock by a score of 2-0 in a game originally scheduled to be played on June 23 and the Belmore Stingers beat the Brussels Bangers in Belmore by a score of 9-2. Also that day, the Belmore Stingers were due to play the Goderich Grizzlies as well, but a score for that game was unavailable at press time.
On Aug. 23, the Sebringville Sting hosted the Brussels Tigers and beat them by a score of 5-3. Also that day, the Monkton Muskrats were scheduled to host the Wroxeter Rippers, but a score for that game was unavailable at press time.
On Aug. 22, the Goderich Grizzlies were in Milverton and beat the Millwrights by a score of 10-3.

 

One day earlier, the Brussels Bangers beat the Mets in Mitchell by a score of 9-7, the Belmore Stingers beat the Hitmen in Wingham by a score of 7-0 and the Monkton Muskrats were scheduled to be in Brussels to play the Bangers, but a score for that game was unavailable at press time.

 

On Aug. 20, the Walton Brewers were at home to beat the Wroxeter Rippers by a score of 17-2, the Brussels Tigers lost to the Elmira U20 Expos by a score of 10-3, the Milverton Millwrights beat the A’s in Fullarton by a score of 12-4 and the Sebringville Sting lost to the Belmore Stingers in Sebringville by a score of 7-0 in a game originally scheduled to be played on June 2.

 

On Aug. 27, the Sebringville Sting were scheduled to play the Brewers in Walton and the Wroxeter Rippers were due to play the A’s in Fullarton. 

 

The next day, the Milverton Millwrights were in Mitchell to play the Mets, the Brussels Tigers hosted the Elmira U20 Expos and the Sebringville Sting were in Wingham to play the Hitmen in a game originally scheduled for Aug. 18. 

 

On Aug. 29, the Monkton Muskrats were in Belmore to play the Stingers, the Fullarton A’s hosted the Sebringville Sting and the Mitchell Mets were in Milverton to play the Millwrights in a game originally scheduled to be played on June 7. Scores for all of those games, however, were unavailable at press time.

 

This all leads to the league’s year-end tournament, which will be held on the weekend of Sept. 13-15 in Mitchell, hosted by the Mets at Keterson Park.