![]() Toward the past | 1997 | ![]() Toward the present |
| Participating Teams British Columbia Champions Maritime Province Champions Ontario Champions Quebec Champions Prairie Provincial Champions Host Team | City Surrey Glace Bay (NS) Toronto Valleyfield Calgary (AB) Medicine Hat (AB) | League Whalley LL Glace Bay LL High Park LL Valleyfield LL Centennial LL Medicine Hat LL |
NOTE: The Canadian Region Tournament uses a round-robin format. After preliminary round competition, the top two teams advance to the championship game. In the event of a tie, no tiebreaking formula is used; instead, knock-out game(s) are played to determine the two finalists.
Round 1:
Canadian Region Tournament Championship Game:
Whalley (BC) 8, Toronto High Park (ON) 2 (TITLE)
Sean McGreevy capped a five-run two out rally with a grand slam home run to propel Whalley to an 8-2 win over Toronto High Park in the championship game of the 1997 Canadian Region Tournament.
Whalley took a 1-0 lead in the championship game when McGreevy's fielder's choice scored Kyle McElwee. High Park tied the score on Brendan Gabel's two-out solo home run in the bottom of the inning before the B.C. champions reclaimed the lead on John Yiu's two-run single in the third. High Park trimmed the deficit to one in the bottom of the third, but relief pitcher Jeff Paz (who threw four innings of hitless relief) staved off further damage by inducing a bases-loaded groundout that ended the inning.
In the sixth, Whalley put the game out of reach with a five-run rally. High Park intentionally walked Yiu and instead chose to pitch to McGreevy, who put the game out of reach with his home run.
High Park had defeated Whalley on the tournament's opening day as Colin Pridmore outdueled Yiu in the 3-2 Toronto victory. High Park went on to reel off consecutive wins over Calgary Centennial and Glace Bay to set up a meeting against Valleyfield, which also started the tournament with three consecutive wins. Valleyfield led High Park 6-5 entering the sixth inning, but the Ontario club rallied for a pair of runs to take the lead. Greg Aishford singled home Adam Garner to plate the winning run, while High Park escaped a bases-loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the sixth inning to clinch a berth in the championship game.
Whalley rebounded from its opening day loss with three consecutive wins. Paz shut out the host Medicine Hat team 2-0, and Whalley then blitzed Calgary 12-2 before rallying for five runs in the sixth inning to beat Glace Bay 7-2. The win over Glace Bay set up a final day matchup against Valleyfield in which a title game berth was at stake.
Whalley sent eleven-year-old Jeff Duda to the mound for the Valleyfield showdown, and the right-hander responded with a 13 strikeout, two-hit performance as Whalley defeated Valleyfield 2-0 to earn a title game berth. Whalley scored both of its runs in the third inning. Clayton Smith lofted a sacrifice fly that scored Nolan Pladson with the first run, and Omar Kadir later scored on a wild pitch. Valleyfield pitcher Pier-Luc Hebert struck out 11 and allowed only three hits in the losing effort.
Kadir, who was a member of Kennedy-Surrey's 1996 Canadian championship squad before moving into the boundaries of the Whalley Little League for the 1997 season, made Little League history by becoming the first player ever to qualify for the World Series as a member of two different teams. One year later, Duda became the second player to do so when he pitched his new Langley, British Columbia team to the World Series.
Canadian Region Tournament Results:
Valleyfield (QC) 1, Calgary Centennial (AB) 0
Toronto High Park (ON) 3, Whalley (BC) 2
Medicine Hat (AB) 6, Glace Bay (NS) 4
Round 2:
Toronto High Park (ON) 5, Calgary Centennial (AB) 2
Whalley (BC) 2, Medicine Hat (AB) 0
Valleyfield (QC) 14, Glace Bay (NS) 4
Round 3:
Toronto High Park (ON) 10, Glace Bay (NS) 0
Whalley (BC) 12, Calgary Centennial (AB) 2
Valleyfield (QC) 9, Medicine Hat (AB) 8 (extra innings)
Round 4:
Whalley (BC) 5, Glace Bay (NS) 2
Toronto High Park (ON) 7, Valleyfield (QC) 6
Medicine Hat (AB) 6, Calgary Centennial (AB) 4
Round 5:
Whalley (BC) 2, Valleyfield (QC) 0
Glace Bay (NS) 10, Calgary Centennial (AB) 3
Toronto High Park (ON) 8, Medicine Hat (AB) 6
Final Standings
W
L
Toronto High Park (ON) 5 0
Whalley (BC) 4 1
Valleyfield (QC) 3 2
Medicine Hat (AB) 2 3
Glace Bay (NS) 1 4
Calgary Centennial (AB) 0 5
Summary:
Linescores:
Championship Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E Whalley 1 0 2 0 0 5 8 - - Toronto High Park 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 - -
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Last revision: 06/17/2002