On the Christie Hillside: The Fall of Empires

Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - June 6 to 12, 2022

The Leafs enjoyed a week of whipping old rivals, capped by another shutout at the Pits.

Damon Topolie celebrates his first home run of the season, looking mighty sharp in the Leafs' new Sunday whites.

There used to be a time, not long ago, when stomachs would tighten at the sight of three straight games against the Barrie Baycats and Brantford Red Sox on the Toronto Maple Leafs schedule.

Between 2005 and 2019, 14 IBL championships were won by Barrie and Brantford. Seven apiece. These clubs were beyond dynasties, they were veritable empires. The only club that could make a dent in this era of uninterrupted rule was the Leafs, who managed to grab a lone title in 2007.

The Leafs held longstanding rivalries with both clubs. Unfortunately Toronto usually ended up on the short end. Road trips to Barrie and Brantford were not fun. Driving to those cities for a game felt like travelling in one of those transport trucks packed with hogs headed for the abattoir. The outcome was inevitably bad.

But the empires have fallen. The championship rosters are no more, replaced by loads of youngsters who had no part in the dominance of the past.

The Leafs are also riding a youth movement and the results so far have been very satisfying.

After shutting out the Baycats last week, the Leafs beat them again up in the wild forests of Midhurst.

A weekend home-and-home series saw the Leafs annihilate the still-winless Red Sox by a two-game total score of 25-2.

Very satisfying indeed.

Thursday, June 9, 2022 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Barrie Baycats

On Thursday night, the Leafs scored two runs on a chaotic wild pitch play to take the lead for good. (Image: Barrie Baycats TV YouTube)

Throwing it all away.

That's how the Barrie Baycats blew Thursday night's game up in the great Canadian north.

An error-riddled see-saw battle came down to one fateful play in the 8th inning and the Toronto Maple Leafs took the lead for good.

The Leafs enjoyed an early 4-1 lead through four innings. Two of those runs were off the bat of centerfielder Gregory Carrington, who hit a pair of RBI singles in the early going.

In the bottom of the 5th, starter Diego Dominguez was touched up for three runs and Barrie tied the score.

The Baycats took the lead in the bottom of the 6th. They scored a run off reliever Dylan Jacober who was making his debut appearance in a navy V-neck. 5-4 Barrie through six.

In the top of the 7th, the Leafs loaded the bases and scored the tying run when right fielder Luca Boscarino safely reached first on an error by Barrie second baseman Owen Jansen.

The stage was set for the fateful eighth.

With reliever Chris Cox on the mound, DH Damon Topolie reached first when Jansen committed another error at second. Shortstop Jose Vinicio doubled and Topolie moved to third. Then, with two out and first baseman Jordan Castaldo at the plate, Cox uncorked a wild pitch and Topolie rumbled home. Barrie catcher Tyler Plumpton grabbed the ball and threw it wild, allowing Vinicio to slide home. On one chaotic play, the Leafs scored twice and took a 7-5 lead. Fitting that a game with eight errors in total would be decided in messy but pleasing fashion.

Former Baycat Chris Nagorski pitched a perfect bottom of the 8th for Toronto.

Closer Dustin Richardson came on for the 9th. He ended the game on a swinging strikeout to secure the win for Nagorski and a 7-5 FINAL.

Toronto 7 7 3

Barrie 5 9 5

W - Nagorski (1-0, 3.60)

L - Cox (0-2, 6.75)

S - Richardson (1)

BOXSCORE

Friday, June 10, 2022 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Brantford Red Sox

The Leafs piled it on late and celebrated a Friday night blowout in Brantford. (Image: Brantford Red Sox YouTube)

There is no joy in Brantford cuz the Red Sox were blown out. Again. It's the story of the 2022 season for that club.

On Friday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled into town to take on the winless Brantford nine.

Marek Deska set the tone on the mound. The Leafs starter pitched five innings, giving up one run off two hits while striking out six. The Red Sox were held to five hits and two runs on the night.

Eight different Leafs recorded an RBI. Catcher Justin Marra and left fielder Luca Boscarino each had two.

After eight innings the score was 7-2, and the Leafs piled on four more in the 9th for an 11-2 FINAL.

Toronto 11 12 6

Brantford 2 5 1

W - Deska (1-0, 3.00)

L - Moore (0-3, 8.48)

BOXSCORE

Sunday, June 12, 2022 - Brantford Red Sox at Toronto Maple Leafs

Sunday afternoon was the second start in a row in which Zach Sloan pitched the majority of a home shutout at the Pits.

The Maple Leafs showed us the best version of themselves on Sunday.

After blowing out the Red Sox in Brantford on Friday, they followed up with an even bigger blowout at Christie Pits.

Before the game started, arriving fans enjoyed the sight of the home team strutting around in a hot new look: proper home white uniforms. When asked, no one could remember the last time the Leafs wore white at home.

"1984," one player suggested.

"1884," another said.

The Sunday whites got the best possible christening. Zach Sloan started on the mound. For the second start in a row, he gave up no runs and set the stage for a Christie shutout.

The game was over in the first inning. The Leafs sent ten men to the plate and put five runs on the board.

The mauling continued in the 2nd with three more Leaf runs for an 8-0 lead.

You know things are going well when your leadoff hitter - Jose Vinicio - comes to the plate four times in four innings. All day long it was one rally after another. In the 4th, left fielder Aidan McAskie hit a 2-run homer to make it 10-0.

Sloan handed the ball to Sam Greene, who pitched a scoreless sixth. Greene was relieved by Dylan Jacober who delivered two scoreless innings.

DH Damon Topolie and catcher Justin Marra both joined the tater parade with round trips in the 7th and 8th innings. On a day that forecast rainy weather, the Leafs delivered their own thunder and lightning. They pummeled Brantford pitching for 19 hits. Centerfielder Gregory Carrington got four of them, including a double. McAskie and Topolie led the way with 3 RBIs each.

In the 9th, Adam Marra came out of the bullpen and wrapped up the second Christie Pits shutout of the season and a 14-0 FINAL.

Player of the Game was Damon Topolie.

Brantford 0 8 0

Toronto 14 19 0

W - Sloan (3-1, 2.14)

L - Lupton (0-1, 36.00)

BOXSCORE